MAISON DE KENNEDY

Shawn's Butter Chicken

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ (5/5) Tested by Cass — 40 min · Serves 2 generously

Same backbone as the pie version, adapted for a bowl of rice: the sauce stays lush and pourable instead of pie-thick, the chicken cooks through in the pan with no second bake, and a few curry-native tweaks bring it closer to a proper restaurant butter chicken. Naan on the side, coriander on top. The jar carries the shape; you carry the depth.

Ingredients

• 1 jar Butter Chicken Simmer Sauce
• 1 lb Chicken Thighs — cubed
• 1 medium Yellow Onion — fine dice
• 3 cloves Garlic — minced
• 1½ tsp Fresh Ginger — grated
• 3 tbsp Butter — split
• ⅔–¾ cup Heavy Cream
• ½ tsp Sugar — optional, a whisper only
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
• ½ tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder
• ½ tsp Cayenne — Shawn's medium
• ¼ cup Water or Chicken Stock
• Squeeze Lemon or Lime
• Fresh Coriander — chopped, to finish
• Salt & Pepper
• Optional: 1 tsp Kasuri Methi — dried fenugreek leaves

Method

1. Sweat the onion: 2 tbsp butter in a wide pan over medium-low. Diced onion plus a pinch of salt, sweated slowly for 10–12 minutes until soft and barely golden at the edges. Almost jammy. Patience here is the depth the jar can't provide.
2. Garlic and ginger: Stir in and cook 1 minute until fragrant.
3. Sear the chicken: Push the aromatics aside, heat up to medium-high, add the remaining 1 tbsp butter and the chicken. Season lightly and sear 2–3 minutes for colour — don't cook it through.
4. Sauce in: Pour the jar over, scrape the fond, bring to a simmer.
5. Cream and spices: Stir in the cream, sugar if using, garam masala, kashmiri chilli and cayenne. Simmer 12–15 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is lush but still pourable.
6. Loosen if needed: If it tightens too far, splash in water or stock a bit at a time until it coats a spoon but drips off cleanly.
7. Finish off heat: Kasuri methi crumbled between your palms if using, a squeeze of lemon or lime, then taste for salt.
8. Serve over basmati, scattered with coriander, warm naan alongside. A spoon of plain yogurt on each bowl is optional but good.

Notes

• Heat dial (cayenne, one-jar batch): ¼ tsp is mild-medium, ½ tsp is proper medium and Shawn's target, ¾ tsp is medium-hot. Cream tames heat — what tastes spicy raw lands milder after the simmer. Taste before the final salt.
• Kasuri methi is the missing note. Crumbled in during the last 2 minutes, it's the signature butter chicken flavour that jars always underdose. If you don't have any, skip it cleanly rather than substituting.
• Better the next day. The spices fully bloom into the cream overnight. Cool 30 minutes uncovered, fridge, then reheat gently over low with a splash of cream or water to re-emulsify. Add the coriander fresh at serving, not before.
• What changes vs the pie version: the sauce stays pourable rather than reduced thick; serve straight from the pan instead of cooling completely; ½ tsp sugar maximum instead of 1–2 tsp; ⅔–¾ cup cream instead of ½; and the chicken cooks through in the simmer rather than finishing in the oven.

Optional Upgrades

• Quick yogurt marinade — ½ cup plain yogurt, 1 tsp garam masala, ½ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp cumin and salt. Toss the chicken and rest 20–30 minutes at room temperature while you prep everything else. Cook exactly the same way; the yogurt melts into the sauce and silkifies it. Adds 20–30 minutes.
• Bloomed whole spices — 1 bay leaf, 2 cardamom pods and a small cinnamon stick bloomed in the butter with the onion. Fish them out before serving.

Spice Substitutes

• No garam masala? A tiny pinch each of cinnamon, cumin, clove, cardamom and black pepper.
• No kashmiri chilli? Sweet paprika with a microscopic pinch of cayenne. It's mostly for colour anyway.
• No cayenne? Red chilli flakes, ½ to 1 tsp, crushed between your palms for finer distribution.

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