Monday, July 5, 2021

MONDAY RECIPE POST - SLOW COOKER BUTTER CHICKEN



A lot of the time when we sit down for a meal,  I don't follow a recipe and fix our old favorite standbys.  However, when I do have the extra time, and more to the point, the inclination, I enjoy browsing through food blogs on line, for those times when we want something a little bit different.  Gregg loves trying ethnic foods, he actually started me on that path, but it took a while as I grew up in a very plain cooking household.  


My Mother was an exceptional cook and her meals were always ones to look forward to (her Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding will never be surpassed in my eyes).  However, after my marriage and with all Gregg's traveling from his navy days, he developed a taste for more exotic cuisine, and introduced me to it.  His Mother also was a great cook and used more seasonings and I had never been used to anything other than salt and pepper, but she taught me about such things and I took note.

I always remember a conversation with my Mum after I had lived in the States for a few years, and at the risk of repeating myself here because I have been writing this blog for a long time now, Mum and Dad were visiting and had been with us for about a week. Mum and I were in the kitchen, chatting over a cup of tea after she had watched me prepare another meal.  I remember going all out with the menu plan, trying to make my Mum proud of my developing cooking skills.  



After looking at all the ingredients I had on my counter, Mum said, with this kind of quizzical, very thoughtful look on her face, "You don't cook English any more do you Neesie?"  (My family nickname since I learned to talk and walk.)

It kind of took me aback because I hadn't thought about it up until that point.  I actually think I was making a spaghetti sauce and now it makes me smile because spaghetti and meatballs was an exotic dish to my Mum and Dad, and they remembered all the pasta they ate when on a vacation to Italy.  We didn’t get pasta in our growing up years, never even crossed our minds.  

If they could have bought all their English groceries with them they would have but obviously would never have gotten it through the customs, not that they would have tried in the first place.  They were allowed to bring tea -  I think - and as we couldn't get English tea here back in those days, they always came with a suitcase full to the gills with PG Tips.  This was all gone by the time they went back and their empty suitcase was filled with all kinds of souvenirs to take home to family and friends.  

I love thinking back to that conversation Mum and I had in the kitchen all those years ago.  She would have been proud of the fact that Yorkshire Pudding was still on our menu, and I make many traditional British dishes.   

At heart I am still a plain cook but I always find several recipes to browse through, and I asked Gregg to choose tonight.   His choice was Slow Cooker Butter Chicken by Chung-Ah at DamnDelicious.   You can visit the original recipe here.

Slow Cooker Butter Chicken
6 Servings

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 hours 5 minutes
total time: 5 hours 15 minutes.

1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, diced
1 (14 ounce) can light coconut milk
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon chili powder, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves.

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium high high.  Add garlic and onion and cook, stirring frequently, until onions have become translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Stir in coconut milk, tomato paste, flour, garam masala, curry powder, chili powder and ginger powder until well combined and slightly thickened, about 1 to 2 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place chicken into a slow cooker.  Add sauce mixture and gently toss to combine.  Cover and cook on low heat for 5 hours.

Serve immediately.



What did we think of this meal?  It was another hit.  I won't share anything that we haven't enjoyed.  The main reason I put recipes on here is that it is another way to save those that we enjoy, and can easily look up when we are in the mood to try again.

I love getting the slow-cooker out.  Fixing things early in the day is a big plus, and by the time you sit down you can relax enough to enjoy the meal. Everything is in the pot before noon, and this leaves the afternoon for other things.  We also avoid turning the oven on in such hot weather.  

Gregg asked if I could cook chicken thighs instead of breast and that was the only thing I altered. It cooked in the same amount of time.

This is the first Indian dish I have prepared.  It wasn't hot at all and if you do enjoy a little more heat, you can add extra chili to taste.  I offered to add more chili the next time but Gregg said no, he wouldn't change a thing.  

Thank you Chung-Ah for sharing this delicious Slow Cooker Butter Chicken.   Please check out DamnDelicious.  Her meals are varied and they look excellent.  I will definitely be going back to find more yummy meals.  You can find her blog here.


Thanks for looking, and have a great week.






33 comments:

  1. Looks delicious and I love trying "exotic meals" too, once in a while. I grew up with a father who wanted meat and potatoes all the time. Made meals boring in my opinion. I don't ever recall Italian food as a child. Etc. Etc.

    Now I must Google. Never heard of
    garam masala.

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    1. I just remembered my mum occasionally served a can of pasta that looked like spaghettios(?) over toast. As kids we loved that :)

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  2. Yum!!
    From Google:
    Garam masala can be made from many different spices, but some of the most common are cinnamon, peppercorns, cardamom, mustard seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, mace, and nutmeg. To create your own blend, toast whole spices to bring out their flavor, then grind them

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    1. Thanks for doing the research, that sounds wonderful! Though I think my Garam masala is going to last longer than the run-out date ;)

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  3. Loved reading the story about you and your mum. So sweet. I'm a pretty plain cook most days. Company coming revives some of my creativity in the kitchen. This chicken looks delicious.

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  4. what you said about your growing up years is mine also, except here in USA not England. plain food, salt, pepper and onions were the only seasons and of course tons of white flour to make gravy or sauces. if i had someone to cook the recipes i would try them but cooking makes me crazy and i just read through your recipe and the only thing in the recipe that is in my house is an onion. all the others would cost a fortune to go out and buy and then do the dreaded cooking. i rather spend that money on take out already cooked. ha ha. which is what i am doing today. bob grew up the same way, and would not eat any of the wonderful things you cook. or so he says. i do just the cooking my mom did but i do love using the slow cooker.

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    1. I know others who don't enjoy cooking. It's one of my hobbies but even there I have to feel in the mood. On these hot days it's generally salads and others that don't need to be cooked. I love putting together a Plowman's Lunch. Really simple meal and seemed to be served at every pub in England. You can look at it here:

      https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-a-british-ploughmans-lunch-435331

      The ones we ordered always had a brioche bun.

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  5. I loved reading this Denise! I cook ethnic food often too. I grew up with my grandmother who cooked a lot of Italian food but my mother wasn't much of a cook at all. I remember a lot of frozen dinners, hot dogs and meals made from a box - things I wouldn't touch these days lol. This butter chicken looks and sounds delicious. I've made it before but not a slow cooker version. I'll have to remember to give it a try after the summer. I've made several meals from Damn Delicious too, always good!

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    1. So glad Martha, thank you :) Your grandmother sounded like a great cook. I hope you enjoy this meal when you give it a try.

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  6. Ohthat looks good. I was just thinking that I needed to go throw something in the crock pot. Now I am hungry.

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    1. Glad you liked the look of it Pam, thank you :)

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  7. My parents were both adventurous eaters. Which rapidly made my mother an adventurous cooks. I remember my father giving her an Indonesian cookbook. Finding the ingredients was a challenge at the time but she persevered. I still have that food stained book in the kitchen...

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    1. Oh how wonderful to have that book of your mother's. That is very special especially as it was a gift from your father. Thanks for sharing that Sue :)

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  8. This looks wonderful; and I bet it smells divine. I guess I am the only living person who does not have a slow cooker! I used to have one, but it was so heavy and hard to clean. If I ever do buy one, I don't know if I would get a slow cooker or an instant pot.

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    1. Thanks Ginny and yes it does :) My old slow cooker lasted 20 years would you believe? I have a new one now that I would be happy if it lasted half as long. I've been looking at instant pots too.

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  9. The Butter Chicken sounds wonderful, Denise. Making it in the crockpot sounds like a winner for hot summer meals. This recipe reminds me that I must share it with my daughter as she is quite a fan of Indian cuisine.
    Hearing about your conversation with your Mum brought a big smile. Thank you for sharing. Reminded me of my Mama. I don't think folks cooked as internationally as we do these days.

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    1. You're very welcome Martha Ellen :) So happy you enjoyed it and think your daughter will enjoy also. My son and daughter-in-law love Indian cuisine too.

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  10. Thank you for sharing the recipe and the precious memory of your discussion with your Mom. Have a wonderful week.

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    1. Thank you Liberty Belle and you are so very welcome. You have a wonderful week also :)

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  11. Looks so good!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!! Loved hearing about your mom and dad! Big Hugs!

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    1. Hello MLC :) You are very welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed the conversation between my mum and me. They were both absolute loves my mum and dad, and I enjoy those memories.

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  12. As I have a bit of a low tolerance for spicy, I would probably decline.

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  13. I know you will pooh pooh this, but you seem to have a real gift for food.

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    1. Thank you Cloudia, you are very sweet and I will say no more, lol!

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  14. We have all those things here in our house including Garam Masala -- and I wondered if we would ever use it for anything else besides the one curry recipe Bill bought it for (we got a little crazy that way during Covid because trying Ethnic food recipes became a sort of hobby when we couldn't go out to get it!) Anyway, I'm bookmarking this page. Yummy

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    1. That's great, glad I provided another recipe for you to use the Garam Masala. Thanks Sallie :)

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  15. This looks really good, Denise. Thanks!

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