D's Butter Chicken

Image by Chris Mejorada for CPI Publishing

I love Fridays.. And I love them even more after a good night out! Yesterday was my outing after becoming a mommy and I must admit it felt good to be back out :) We started off with a cozy dinner at Okku, having a good laugh over candlelight and munching on a delish new menu I might add!! I actually woke up dreaming of the spicy crab roll, hehe.. So after lots of good food and many, many glasses of wine, the cozy dinner turned into quite the party and we ended up getting home quite late.. What a fun eve which made me remember the times when I used to go out quite a bit! With my sis all over the place, before she got married and moved to Madrid (my other half, wow we had some amazing times!!), in NYC with Nadine, then with Alex and Aisha doing our girly outings at Cipriani Lounge (just smirking thinking about those nights), or rocking Beirut like crazy with my partner in crime, Racil (probably the best nights out I ever had!!) I realized I was lucky to have such amazing memories across the planet, with such amazing closies.. I really do miss you guys a lot..

And it's also on a night out in Beirut that I met my Phiras. So of course, silly me got all emotional again, realizing how time had gone by and that even though everything seemed the same at Okku last night, something huge had changed in our life.. Phiras and I became parents! And when we came home from the club last night, the first thing we did was go into the baby's room snuggle up with little Phares :)

After a night out like that, there is no way we were going to eat skinny meals today.. As we all know, the last thing you feel like eating after a good night out is a salad! Anyways, I  have decided to postpone "D's Skinny Kitchen" until after the holidays :) January is the perfect detox month, in the mean time I will enjoy the end of 2012 and not think about those extra pounds :) 

Phiras felt like Indian food, (I wasn't up for cooking today to be honest so we ended up ordering in) but it made me realize I had not shared with you my Butter Chicken recipe, so here it is.. So smooth yet fragrant, a little spicy and the most tender chicken.. absolutely delicious - enjoy!

Serves 6 - 8

Prep & Cook Time: ~ 1 hour

• 8 boneless chicken breasts (no skin), cut into pieces
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp grated ginger
• ½ red chili, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp cumin powder
• 2 tbsp garam masala
• 2 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1 pack tomato puree (200ml)
• 1 can coconut milk (400ml)
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 400ml chicken stock
• ½ cup yoghurt
• a handful of almonds
• 1 tomato, chopped
• ½ cup fresh coriander, finely chopped
• salt to taste

In a large pan or wok, heat some nut oil and cook the onions until slightly brown, add the ginger, garlic, chili and all the spices and cook for a few minutes.

Add the chicken and cook until nicely browned, then add the stock, coconut milk and tomato puree. In a blender, liquefy the chopped tomato with almonds and add that to the pan.

Cook for about half an hour on low heat, then add the cream, yoghurt and salt to taste and cook for another 45 minutes or until the chicken is tender.

Add the coriander at the end, check for seasoning and serve with basmati rice. Divine!

(As featured in BBC Good Food ME October 2011)