Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Pioneer Woman's Butter Chicken



I've really been into expanding my spice cabinet lately. Even though I have an entire cabinet dedicated to spices, I still need more. Recently, I have purchased saffron, cardamom, turmeric, and curry powder. I had fun cooking with the saffron and loved the pretty color it imparted to each dish. This week, I opened up my cardamom and was instantly in love. Who knew cardamom had such an intoxicating smell? That stuff is delicious and I'm on a mission to find new uses for it.

The first recipe I made with my cardamom was Pioneer Woman's Butter Chicken. I will tell you now that this chicken is absolutely delicious. I love the somewhat complex flavors of this dish and found it to be very comforting. I definitely suggest that you make this chicken, but only when you really want to be naughty. Why? Well, right before serving the meal, you pour in ONE PINT of heavy cream. Yes, one pint. The entire recipe serves four. I almost cried when I did it. Notice I said almost. Then I remembered that I had a pint of cream hanging around that just needed to be used up. Not one to waste food, I instantly felt better about the dish. Or at least that's what I told myself.



The chicken is marinated in a mixture of garlic, salt, black pepper, cumin, cayenne pepper, cardamom, ground coriander, and the juice of a whole lime. It needs to marinade overnight (a step that is well worth it and makes the chicken exceptionally tender). The next day, you saute an onion with butter and cook the chicken for 10 minutes before adding tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. The chicken simmers for 30 minutes. Right before serving, you pour in one pint of heavy cream and garnish with cilantro. You can find the link to Pioneer Woman's recipe HERE.

You should definitely make this chicken if you have heavy cream that needs using up OR if you feel like indulging. I'll definitely be making this chicken again one day! In the meantime, I've used up all my heavy cream and will get back to lightening things up. Summer is fast-approaching.

I wanted to submit this recipe to Foodie Friends of the Pioneer Woman, but the weekend got away from me. This is definitely a great site worth checking out! The next roundup is in two weeks and will be featuring desserts.

SPECIAL NOTE: A couple of you asked whether or not I had hot pink legwarmers and other 80's gear just hanging out in my closet. The answer is yes. We have a lot of "costume parties" at work so I have a little costume section in my closet. I wish I had pictures to share, but we forgot to take pictures on Saturday. I had some 80's pictures from our previous 80's party, but I lost them when my hard drive crashed awhile back. I'm sure there will be a next time! Over the past few months, we've done 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's parties. In addition to that, we've done beach parties, pajama parties, fairytale parties, and Greek parties. I'm going to need a bigger closet soon!

40 comments:

  1. This looks so rich and lovely Kim! I love cardamom and coriander together!

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  2. I've never even heard of butter chicken but the title itself draws me right in. Sounds delicious!

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  3. My husband loves butter chicken, but I have yet to try the PW version. Looks delicious!

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  4. cardamom is one of my favorite spices :) and well if you love that smell so much..there is one way to take it. A a bit of it to your milked tea. I do that sometimes :)
    The butter chicken looks fantastic and is making me very hungry :)

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  5. :D I bet this was simply awesome. I adore cardamom. Just so you know, in indian cooking, you can sometimes substitute greek yogurt for double cream. It majority cuts down the fat and is still totally yummy. I think it would work for this recipe.
    *kisses* HH

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  6. Oh my! One pint of cream. LOL! I'm sure this is a very good chicken recipe, once in a while is okay and probably should be encouraged. :)

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  7. Holy cow Kim!!!! With a pint of cream this dish has got to be to be out of this world. Seriously, this is a really nice dish.
    I love the way you are experiencing new spices. Cardamom is a really nice spice that is used a lot in Indian cooking.

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  8. This looks mouth-watering. I've never made my own butter chicken, I might have to give PW's recipe a try soon.

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  9. cardamom is great, great it sweets (though that might be the Finn in me), next time you make a pound cake put about a tsp in. Lovely

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  10. Great flavours! Glad to see your spice cabinet expanding. Soon you will be like me.. with three shelves and a rack.. and counting!

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  11. Mmmm...butter chicken is yummy! I made this one too, but my post isn't going up until tomorrow. It was delicious, but like you said--this is a definitely an indulgent dish!

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  12. Buttery, creamy chicken.What's not to like? I also love cardamon - it adds such flavor.

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  13. What I really need is to find a job like yours. I would love to have a whole section of my closet devoted to costumes! As it is now. I'm just lucky to have a closet. Period.

    I have never tried butter chicken before but it sounds awesome! If you really want to add some kick to some rice, get some whole cardamom pods and just put them in with the rice while its cooking. It makes it taste JUST LIKE INDIAN TAKEOUT. A.K.A. delicious.

    This looks so good!

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  14. oooh yes...cardamom has a wonderful aroma! and yes!!! more chicken recipes...I need to branch out. I feel like I'm in a rut. Thank you for sharing this. I must make this, and soon!

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  15. Oh boy! I do have a pint of cream that needs to be used up! This is my lucky day.

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  16. "only when you really want to be naughty"

    Well, for one, I'm a guy and guys always want to be naughty. Second, my rule for dairy is if a recipe calls for milk, use 1/2 and 1/2, if it call for 1/2 and 1/2 use cream.

    So yeah, I love this dish!

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  17. Your work sounds really fun! I love dressing up - Halloween is my favorite holiday. This chicken really rocks! So rich and flavorful. It really is a treat.

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  18. Another beautiful dish. Looks great!

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  19. Good lord...a pint of heavy cream! I just made a recipe that called for a pint of cream which I changed and subbed some chicken stock for part of the cream!

    BTW, on Sundays I have my coffee with heavy cream and a tad of cardamon!

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  20. Now if it was a gallon I would be concerned, a pint...not so bad! Its just like having your dessert for dinner too! Looks good...I'll have to check it out. Thanks!

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  21. Always good to add to the spices! Butter chicken is one of my favorite indulgence dishes ever--sinful but oh so good. Yours looks just about perfect! ;-)

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  22. There's something bascially naughty about butter and cream....and we feel guilty when we use too much of it. But it sure makes things taste good! This chicken dish is a prime example. Yummy recipe and I love the seasonings!

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  23. This is amazing!!!! I love those flavors together!I love your picture with the white rice to eat it with that delicious sauce.

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  24. While it's an indulgence, we love butter chicken and have it often enough to say, with a bit of authority, that yours looks delicious and sounds really good.

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  25. Oh Yum! This looks sooooo delicious! I love that its such a unique recipe!

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  26. I agree, cardamom has such an intoxicating smell and I love using it in cakes. You wouldn't believe the flavor it can give a chocolate or a cinnamon spice cake. Wonderful!
    Ah, this chicken is so decadent especially with that sauce. I might use half and half just so i don't cry as much either when it goes in! Looks like you had a gorgeous dinner.
    Thanks for visiting my blog often, I appreciate it so much. You always have something so nice to say.

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  27. Oh, yes! cardamom is one of my favorite flavors. It goes with everything. It's so fragrant that only a little will perfume a whole dish.

    Thanks for this recipe--I hadn't seen it. I'm wondering if it can be made a little lighter? It looks amazing...

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  28. It looks so pretty! If it tastes as good you say then I would think that cream went to good use :)

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  29. This looks delicious. What a combination of flavors.
    Mimi

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  30. Ummm...Butter chicken...now I have to try that!

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  31. all the best for the give away looks yummy oh blogging is awesome i have also tried so many new foods

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  32. Wow! I'm drooling over this. I bet it is SO good! I love all of the spices and I bet the marinated chicken was super tender and flavorful. Mmmm.

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  33. What a lovely chicken dish, even with that amount of cream. I'm sure it was good. Wonder if you could use half and half to cut down the calories?
    Sam

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  34. We do stir a butter chicken sometimes and i love the way urs turned ...delish as ever...and the flavours rock....
    And ur chciken with saffron cream sauce remonds me of no reservations...a fantastic foodie movie....and Catherine Zeta at her best....

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  35. Love the variety of spices and your pic looks great! Pioneer Woman rocks!

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  36. I LOVE cardamom too! It's a staple for Indian dishes (especially desserts). I make a similar chicken and use yogurt/milk to replace some of the cream. It tastes almost as rich, and I think it's just as good!

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  37. oh yeah, i'll be making this very soon. i can't turn away any dish that starts with the term butter! fantastic!

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