Butter Chicken and Naan

Some friends were getting together for an Indian themed party the other night. They asked if I would make butter chicken and naan. Figured what the hell and went for it (although I much much much prefer vindaloo!). This is based off a recipe by Julie Sahini in Classic Indian Cooking, it is changed a fair bit, I just had to pull out the grill! Anyways.... Butter Chicken Sauce 3 Cups strained tomatoes 4 Jalapenos Tablespoon ginger 10 Tablespoons Butter 4 Teaspoons Cumin 1 Tablespoon Paprika 2 Teaspoons Kosher Salt 1.5 Cups Heavy Cream 2 Teaspoons Garam Masala 0.25 Cups Cilantro Garam Masala 4 Teaspoons Fennel Seeds 2.5 Teaspoons Cinnamon 2.5 Teaspoons Caraway Seeds 0.5 Teaspoons Black Pepper 0.5 Teaspoons Cloves 0.5 Teaspoons Green Cardamom Seeds First make the garam masala ingredients and grind them up for use later Start by melting 8 tablespoons of butter, let it go until the foam subsides While the butter is going make your chile paste. Take 4 jalapenos and the ginger and puree to a paste (you may need to add a few of the strained tomatoes to puree properly)

The paste should look like this

Mix the chile paste with the strained tomatoes

Add the cumin and the paprika to the butter (I should have let the butter go a little further until more of the foam was gone, I was in a bit of a hurry).

Stir it around for a few seconds and it should look like this

Add the tomato and chile mixture and let it cook for about 10 minutes at a simmer

Now mix in the cream and the salt and let simmer 10 more minutes

Time to stir in the garam marsalla and the rest of the butter. Take off the heat and let sit half an hour

Now I grilled 21 chicken thighs, removed the skin and used for something else, then pulled off all the meat

Mixed in the cilantro and the chicken

The Naan bread was ripped off from Peter Reinharts book Crust and Crumb

Start by making a poolish - mix 1.35 Cups bread flour, 1.35 Cups cool water and .25 teaspoon of yeast. Let it sit at room temp for 4 hours until foamy and bubbly, then place in the fridge over night

For the rest of the naan you need:

3.5 Cups Bread Flour

2 Teaspoons Salt

1 Teaspoon Instant Yeast

4 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil

0.5 Cup Yogurt (full fat)

Poolish

Water as needed

0.5 Cups Butter and Kosher Salt for topping

Combine the flour, salt, yeast, oil, yogurt, and poolish and knead until a gluten window forms about 10 - 15 minutes. The dough should be soft and sticky but not stick too much to the counter, add flour or water as needed. Place the dough in an oiled covered bowl and let rise and hour. Divide it into 8 balls, cover and fridge for an hour.

Pre heat the oven to 550 with a baking stone for an hour. Shape the dough like you would a pizza stretching as far as you can without breaking and bake for 4 minutes on the stone. Coat with melted butter and kosher salt out of the oven.

For serving the butter chicken we sauteed zuchinni, mushrooms, onions, and juliened orange peppers and stirred them in to the sauce. All served over rice.