Recipe: Spice up your weekend with Jamie Oliver’s ‘My kinda butter chicken’

Jade Hayden

The only thing tastier than chicken is butter chicken.

And oh, has Jamie Oliver got the butter chicken recipe for you.

With fragrant spices, tomatoes, cashew butter and yoghurt, Jamie’s ‘My kinda butter chicken’ will be sure to spice up any weekend dinners you’ve got planned.

Who needs restaurants, truly?

In his latest cookbook, 7 Ways by Jamie Oliver, the chef presents an array of delicious and easy-to-make meals that are just as good as eating out… if not better.

Here’s one for the meat eaters among us. You’re welcome.

You’ll need (serves 2, total time: 40 minutes):

2–3 fresh mixed-colour chillies
350g ripe mixed-colour cherry tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
6cm piece of ginger
1 tablespoon garam masala
4 heaped tablespoons natural yoghurt
2 x 150g free-range skinless chicken breasts
Olive oil
2 tablespoons smooth cashew butter

Photography: Levon Biss.

Method:

1. Halve and deseed the chillies. Place in a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat with the tomatoes and blacken all over, turning occasionally. Meanwhile, peel the garlic and ginger, and finely grate into a large bowl.

2. Add most of the garam masala, a pinch of sea salt and black pepper and 1 tablespoon of yoghurt. Deeply score the chicken breasts at 1cm intervals, then massage with the marinade. Once charred, remove the tomatoes and chillies to a board, returning the pan to a medium heat with ½ a tablespoon of olive oil and the chicken.

3. Cook and char for 10 minutes, turning halfway, while you pinch off and discard the tomato skins and roughly chop 1–2 of the chillies, to taste. Remove the gnarly chicken from the pan and go in with the tomatoes, chopped chillies and cashew butter.

4. Pour in 250ml of boiling kettle water and stir to pick up the sticky bits. Let it bubble vigorously for 2 minutes and once it starts to thicken, return the chicken to the pan, turning in the sauce for a final 2 minutes, or until cooked through, then remove to a board.

5. Off the heat, season the sauce to perfection, then ripple through the remaining yoghurt. Slice the chicken and serve with the remaining chilli and garam masala.