Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

I only made this for the first time last weekend, and I never normally post recipes until I've tried them a few times, but this was an absolute triumph with all of the family.

It is an ideal Indian fake-away meal; it's mild enough to appeal to the younger family members but so delicious; I would usually go for something much spicier such as a Dhansak, madras or jalfrezi, but this was so nice, I genuinely didn't miss the chilli heat. 

Making it in the slow cooker is a double bonus - one is that the slow cooker does all the hard work for you (thank you Crockpot) two is that the house will smell incredible all day as this cooks.

The below serves four and we had with these quick and easy BBC Good Food Naan Breads  which were brushed with a drop of melted butter with minced garlic and coriander and some rice. 

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

Here's how:

• 4-5 large skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 1 onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3cm piece of ginger
• 1/2 jar of Korma paste (I just used one from Lidl)
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 2 tbsp garam masala
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp turmeric
• 6 cardamom pods
• 1 tin of coconut milk
• 2 tbsp fat free or low fat natural yoghurt (you can use full fat this is just quite a calorie-laden dish)
• 2 tbsp butter or ghee
• 1 lime

Firstly make the base. Peel the onion and slice it, or if you have fussy little ones, dice it and add to the slow cooker. Peel and mince the garlic and do the same. Peel and slice the ginger and add to the slow cooker.

Now chop the chicken thighs into large chunks - don't go too small as you don't want the meat to dry out; and add to the slow cooker.

Now add the fats; the butter or ghee, the natural yoghurt and the coconut milk.

Finally it's time to layer the flavours. Spoon in half a jar or 3 heaped tablespoons of Korma paste.  Add the tomato puree and then the garam masala, paprika, cinnamon stick, cayenne pepper, cumin, turmeric and cardamom pods. 

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken

Now give the mix a good stir, place the lid on and cook for a solid 4 hours on the lower setting. Try not to open the lid for the first hour to allow the heat to build up. After that, you can give it a stir every 30-60 minutes of cooking time if you like, but it will be fine if left to it's own devices too. 

When the butter chicken is cooked and you have dished it up, squeeze over the juice of the lime for a final flavour hit. Enjoy!

If you want some other Indian fake-away inspiration here a few other ideas:
Chicken Biryani
Sag Paneer
Chicken Dhansak
Beef and Lentil Curry
Chicken Tikka with Lentil Dal