In our mini-series of Japanese Cooking 101 in Kyoto, we are going to different stores from traditional to trendy, and show you a glimpse of the culinary scene of Kyoto in 2023. After we tasted delicious food at stores, we tried to recreate those dishes, not exactly but more in our own way, at home in Kyoto. We hope you enjoy our Japanese Cooking 101 food in a little different setting from our regular videos.
This episode is Butter Chicken. While dark brown stew-like Japanese curry is the curry we love, mildly spiced and designed for eating with Japanese Steamed Rice, Butter Chicken is a more spicy Indian curry. As spiced curry has become more well known and accepted in Japan, there are many spiced curry specialty restaurants that have opened up to serve Butter Chicken. As well as the popularity of spiced curry restaurants, one of the reasons Butter Chicken became so popular was boil-in-the-pouch Butter Chicken from a large household goods store chain called Muji. Their version got really good reviews on the internet and made the mainstream public know its name. That pushed Butter Chicken to be one of the favorite curry dishes on the list.
We went to the spiced curry restaurant “Kamal” located on Sanjo street in Kyoto where trendy restaurants are crowding together. The narrow shop is packed with locals at lunch time. At the restaurant, all the curries such as beef, Keema (ground meat), vegetable, and of course, Butter Chicken are made with fresh ingredients without any additives. Everything is cooked with care and served to customers at a high level of perfection. You can order a la carte, but we would recommend the combination where you can choose 2 curries. Their Butter Chicken is a burst of flavors from many different spices and rich chicken base. This may be a hard one to recreate at home without knowing what exact ingredients they put in their curry, but we tried.
In our kitchen, we marinated chicken for a few hours in Greek yogurt along with an array of spices so that the chicken gets tender and absorbs the flavors. Then more aromatic ingredients, garlic and ginger, are added to cook the dish. In our own twist, a good amount of heavy cream is added to the sauce at the end. This makes the curry rich and mild, and it goes surprisingly well with Japanese Steamed Rice. No wonder Japanese people like Butter Chicken so much. Are you thinking what will happen to all the spices you bought and left unused after making this curry? Don’t worry. This will be a staple dish for your weekday dinner once you’ve made it. It is so easy to make, and no exotic ingredients needed, other than those spices. Try this easy but untraditional modern dish from Japan yourself!
Butter Chicken
*Links may contain ad. #CommissionsEarned
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless chicken thighs
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt full fat
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp galam masala
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tsp ginger minced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 can stewed tomato (14.5 oz)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- steamed rice
- cilantro or chives (optional for garnish)
Instructions
- Cut chicken into bite size pieces and put in a bowl. Add lemon juice, yogurt, salt, and spices (turmeric, cumin, galam masala, coriander) and mix to coat the chicken with the marinade. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- Heat a pot at medium heat and add the oil and butter. When the butter is melted, add the minced garlic and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the onion and cook until lightly browned.
- Add the tomatoes and chicken broth. Bring to a boil for a few minutes uncovered.
- Add the chicken and marinade to the pot, and bring back to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add the heavy cream and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Serve with steamed rice and garnish with cilantro or chives.
Video
