Wow, I’m not sure where to start…. except thanks goodness I made it on-time for the Secret Recipe Club this month!

What follows is a “Cliff Note” recap of my recent cooking saga: I fully prepared in advance for my recipe and post, almost a week and a half to be exact. You see, my dearest friend’s birthday is in October and I wanted to make her some homemade goodies for her special day. I was assigned Asiya’s beautiful blog, Chocolate and Chillie’s, and had carefully picked out her Maple Granola to try and send as a gift to my friend.

iPhone photo…the only photo I have left!

1. I made the two batches of granola (Maple Granola pictured on the left)
2. I decorated cute little jars and personalized them
3. Staged and took the photos of the granola
4. Shipped the gift (I ate the small remainder of both after photographing and filling the jars…meaning I have no leftovers!)
5. Uploaded the photos….OOPS…I received an ERROR CODE when trying to upload and all of a sudden they were erased from my camera completely. This has never happened before so I was left with no photos to post and no more granola to re-shoot.
6. Freak out mode sets in…ahhhh I dont have photos for the Secret Recipe Club post in two days!
7. Quickly find another recipe that I can whip up with ingredients I had on hand—BUTTER CHICKEN, take photos and write up a new posting
8. Breathe, relax….I made it!

With very little time to spare, I wound up making Asiya’s Low-fat Butter Chicken and it was scrumptious! I decided to experiment with a dairy-free option and changed up a few things based on what I had in my pantry and fridge. I increased the amount of ginger-garlic paste, used dried ground fenugreek seeds in place of the kasuri methi, and swapped out coconut sugar for regular white sugar. I typically use coconut oil as my cooking oil (just my preference) but any neutral oil can be used in it’s place. I also opted to add in a squeeze of lemon juice for a little more acidity, puree the sauce and sprinkle the finishing product with coarsely ground black pepper, mmmm.

I’d say that having to make two recipes this month for the Secret Recipe Club turned out to be a win-win situation 🙂 I will be making this chicken again and again!

Better-for-You Butter Chicken (adapted from Asiya’s recipe)
Grain-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free option, Soy-free, Refined Sugar-free, Nut-free option

Ingredients

For the Chicken Tikka:
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast (or 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts)
1 cup yogurt (can use plain dairy-free options such as coconut milk yogurt etc if needed)
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp salt or to taste
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp tandoori masala powder
1 tsp kasuri methi or 1/2 tsp  ground dried fenugreek seeds
2 tbsp canola oil, coconut oil or other neutral oil

For the Butter Sauce:
2 tbsp coconut oil, canola oil or other neutral oil
one medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cups diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp almond flour (if needed to be nut-free, you can omit)
1 Tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp kasuri methi or 1/2 tsp dried ground fenugreek seeds
1/8 tsp sea salt or to taste
2 tsp coconut sugar or sweetener of choice
1/4 cup coconut milk, or greek yogurt or  low-fat sour cream (use coconut milk for dairy-free)
1 tbsp butter, ghee, Earth Balance (use Earth Balance for dairy-free)
squeeze of lemon juice, optional but I like the acidity

Directions

For the Chicken Tikka:

1. In a small bowl mix together cumin, garam masala, salt, cayenne pepper, tandoori masala and fenugreek/kasuri methi.  Rub on both sides of the chicken and refrigerate for at least 30-60 minutes.

2. Line a pan with parchment or foil.  In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, oil and ginger garlic paste.  Dip each chicken breast into the yogurt mixture.  Coat well.  Lay on prepared pan.

3. Heat oven to broil and cookl 10-18 minutes or until cooked through (depending on thickness of chicken), flipping them over halfway through.  When cooked through, let chicken rest for 5 minutes and then cut into 1 inch cubes.

For the Butter Sauce:
1. Heat the oil a medium sauté pan.  Saute onions until soft and translucent.  Add ginger-garlic paste and stir for about 1 minute.

2. Add all the remaining ingredients except for the coconut milk/ yogurt/sour cream and butter.  Cook on medium heat until thick.

3. Puree sauce in a blender (careful it’s hot!) and return to the pan. If you prefer a more chunky sauce, opt out of this step.

4. Add yogurt.coconut milk/sour cream and butter/Earth Balance.  Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.  If you prefer a thinner sauce, add a bit more coconut milk if you would like to thin it out.

5. Add the chicken and simmer for a few more minutes until heated through.  Serve hot with rice or cooked grain of choice and enjoy!

*Note:  If you would like a smooth sauce, puree the onions after they become translucent and then return to the pan.  Puree the tomatoes before adding.
For more recipes from this month’s reveal, click the link below!