Ingredients
• 2 small yellow onion (or one large), chopped
• 2 – 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp garam masala
• ¾ tsp cumin, cinnamon & ginger
• ¼ – ¾ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1¼ cup low sodium vegetable broth
• 2¾ cups plain tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp coconut sugar or cane sugar*
• ⅓ cup raw cashews + 3 tbsp to roast for garnish
• 3 cups chickpeas
Directions
- Soak cashews in hot water while preparing the sauce.
- On medium high heat, in a large pan, saute the onions and garlic with the spices (garam masala, cumin, cinammon, ginger and cayenne pepper) in ¼ cup of the vegetable broth until the onions are soft and the spices are fragrant.
- Add the remaining vegetable broth (1 cup), plain tomato sauce and sugar. Simmer for 5-8 minutes or so until fragrant.
- Rinse your cashews, In a blender or in a separate deep bowl, blend ⅓ cup of raw cashews with about ⅓ cup of the butter chicken sauce that is simmering on the stove until creamy and smooth . I used a stick immersion blender and blended the soaked cashews with a bit of the sauce in a deep bowl. If you are using a high speed blender you may need to add in about ½ cup of the sauce with the cashews for it to blend well. Transfer the blended sauce back into the pan with the rest of the Butter Chicken sauce.
- If using, in a separate pan, over medium high heat, roast 3 tbsps of cashews for 5 minutes in a pan (these are the cashews that you will use to garnish the butter chicken with).
- Add the chickpeas to the pan. Simmer for an additional 5 – 10 minutes. Serve Butter Chicken over yellow rice pilafor basmati rice. Garnish with roasted cashews.
Notes
1) Use your sweetener of choice in this dish. I have also make it with 1 tbsp of maple syrup and also love it this way.
2) Use freshly cooked or canned chickpeas. I like to use freshly cooked chickpeas in this recipe because they still have a bit of a “bite” to them.
