File this under things you may not know about me: I am obsessed with Indian food. I once lived for 18 months in a place that lacked an Indian restaurant, and my tastebuds suffered. I once went to grad school at a place (UC Davis!) with an Indian restaurant right on campus. I also once dated an Indian guy and he cooked me dinner exactly one time, but I can still remember every single bite of that meal. Fresh curry leaves floated through the meal. Unsweetened coconut and fenugreek leaves in a potato side dish. I still think about it. It’s hard to forget the first time you have coconut in a savory way. This was, like 10 years ago, pre-coconut oil boom, kids.
I think I love Indian food because it’s very carb-centric. I love all colors of lentils equally, especially with piles of rice, a precarious stack of papadam on one side and naan dripping with ghee on the other. Did I miss any carb potential on my plate? This is what I ask myself when I’m at an Indian restaurant.
Indian butter chicken has long been on my ‘must make’ list, and I’m so glad I finally did it! It uses just one spice, well, one spice blend called Garam Masala. I think I love it even more for being so simple to make. Once you have Garam Masala in your pantry, you’ll come back to this dish again and again. If you shy away from things like heavy cream, you can certainly use half and half. But I definitely heard a story on NPR the other day about full-fat dairy making a comeback, so you should probably just spring for the heavy cream. Wait, was that a news story, or was it a dream?
You can easily scale this recipe up to serve more than two. I scaled it down from Mel.
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