Slow Cooker Recipe: Kashmiri Butter Chicken

When I live in London we had 3 take away restaurants across the road from our flat. One was a kebab shop which claimed to be "the second best kebab shop in London" which always provided us with brilliant and much needed greasy, spicy food to soak up the booze after a long night on the tiles. The second was a Chinese take away that produced the most awful food known to man (a shame as it was the weak link in what could have been the holy trinity of takeaways). Last in the row was an excellent and cheap Curry house. We bought many a takeaway from them over the years of living there: me with my love of a Korma and Peshwari Naan and my house mate with the more adventurous palate of someone who had travelled around India always chose something a little different...

One day a new chef's special was listed: Butter Chicken. My friend ordered it, I tried some and it was delicious. Like a more tomatoey version of a Korma but without the almonds (so I'm guessing less calorific too!) very mild with lots of subtle flavours I have searched for this dish every time we have a take away curry but to no avail. So you can imagine how pleased I was when I found this recipe in my new slow cooker book*!

Kashmiri Butter Chicken
Serves: 4
Preparation time: 30 mins
Cooking time 5-7 hours
Cooking temp: Low

Ingredients
2 onions, quatered
3 garlic cloves
4cm fresh root ginger, peeled.
1 large red chilli, halved, seeds discarded
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tbsp sunflower oil
25g butter
1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
4 cardamom pods, crushed
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
300ml chicken stock
1 tbsp light muscavado sugar
2 tbsp tomato puree
5 tbsp double cream
salt

Method
1) Preheat the slow cooker.
2) Blend the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli in a food processor or liquidizer or chop finely.
3) Cut each chicken thigh into 4 pieces. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the chicken, a few pieces at a time, until all the meat has been added. Cook over a high heat until evenly browned. Lift the chicken pieces out of the pan with a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate.
4) Add the butter to the frying pan and when it has melted add the onion paste. Cook over a more moderate heat until it is just beginning to colour. Stir in the crushed seeds, cardamom seeds and pods and ground spices. Cook for 1 minute, then mix in the stock, sugar, tomato puree and salt. Bring to the boil, stirring.
5) Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker pot, pour the onion mixture and sauce over the top and press the chicken below the surface of the liquid. Cover and cook for 5 - 7 hours.
6) Before serving, stir in the cream and garnish with toasted flaked almonds and sprigs or coriander.

Enjoy!

*recipe from Ultimate Slow Cooker by Sara Lewis.