Butter Style Chicken With Quick Fix Roti
A rich, creamy butter-style chicken curry blitzed from a fresh cashew and tomato paste, served with a clever quick-fix roti made from puff pastry.
Serves: 4
Prep time: 30 minutes (plus 30 minutes soaking time)
Cook time: 30 minutes)
INGREDIENTS
4 roma tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for 30 minutes
5cm piece ginger, grated
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 tbsp curry powder
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1 tbsp ghee, plus extra for pan frying the roti
1 tbsp sugar
juice of 1 lemon
6 chicken thighs
1 cup heavy cream
3 squares frozen puff pastry
METHOD
Place the paste ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.
In a heavy-based pot over high heat, brown the chicken thighs on one side until quite charred, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
In the same pan, reduce the heat to medium and, without cleaning, add the curry paste to cook off for another 10 minutes.
Cut the chicken into 2cm strips and add back into the pan with the curry paste, tipping in any resting juices.
Add the cream and simmer until rich orange, about 10 minutes. At this point you can also throw in a random selection of veg like peas, beans, carrot, cauliflower or broccoli, but I opted for just as is on this one, because it's so simply delicious.
Meanwhile, to make a simulation roti, lay the first sheet of puff pastry flat and roll it up like a cigar, then 1cm before it's completely rolled, overlap the next sheet and continue rolling. Repeat with the third sheet so you have a log of pastry.
Cut the pastry log into 3cm sections and, standing each one on its end, squish or roll it flat between two sheets of paper until it becomes a pancake about 15cm in diameter.
Lightly oil a non-stick pan with ghee over medium heat and pan fry each roti until golden on each side, about 1 minute per side.
Keep warm until serving.
HINTS
Not flipping the chicken is deliberate - letting it go hard on one side gives you those really charred brown bits, because mucking about in the pan just cools it down.
The puff pastry roti works because it's already layered with butter, so it fries up into the same flaky, stretchy pancake. It's not authentic, but it gets as close as it can.
Next time, try adding shallots to the rolled pastry, or doing it with thick filo brushed with ghee between each layer before rolling.
NUTRITION (per recipe total, serves 4 - guide only):
Energy: 14200 kJ (3400 cal)
Protein: 175 g
Fat: 230 g
Saturated fat: 105 g
Carbohydrate: 145 g
Sugars: 35 g
Sodium: 2600 mg
This nutrition information is a guide only and may vary depending on brands, exact quantities, and ingredient substitutions used.