Butter chicken, Indian comfort food that unites cultures – its history, and how today’s chefs use social media and TV to promote it to the world
- The result of a culinary experiment at a roadside restaurant, butter chicken quickly spread throughout India to become arguably the nation’s favourite dish
- Decades after its invention, Indian-born chefs promote the curry everywhere from the US to the UK, using Facebook groups and TV shows like MasterChef Australia
A few months back I invited a few colleagues to my home for dinner to celebrate a milestone at work. Initially I was unsure about what to order, but since I was having them over the first time, butter chicken was the natural choice.
Between platefuls of basmati rice and buttered naan bread, the five of us polished off two boxes of the velvety dish. We may all be from different parts of India and have our own preferences when it comes to food, but we were all united over our love of butter chicken.
“It has loads of butter and loads of cream. What is there not to love?” says Monica Bhide, author of the novel Karma and the Art of Butter Chicken, for whom butter chicken evokes nostalgia.
“My dad travelled a lot but when he was home, he would cook butter chicken,” she says.
In its purest form, the dish is one of yogurt- and spice-marinated meat, prepared using onions, ginger, and tomatoes, and scented with garam masala, cumin and turmeric.
In restaurants, it is often cooked in a tandoor – a large, urn-shaped oven – giving it a deep, caramelised flavour. The generous amounts of butter and cream used make it wildly luxurious.
