Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: Fenugreek seeds are key to butter chicken masala

I miss travel. I miss people and different cultures and most especially I miss discovering new food and recipes. I am very lucky to have travelled quite a bit, and when I have time for it, I always try to take in a cookery experience when visiting a new country. 

I find small local cookery schools, or better yet, experiences where I get to visit someone’s home and spend time with them in their kitchen. Cooking with local people, and then eating with them, is a wonderful way to get to know a place in a very different way. It is a joy. I cannot wait to be able to do it again when we return to some semblance of normality. 

In the meantime, I am revisiting old experiences and remembering the people I met with fondness. I am working my way through some of the recipes I discovered or developed because I was lucky enough to meet them. The smells of the dishes as I cook bring me right back to the first time I made them in some faraway place. 

Food has a way of connecting us, even when we cannot be together in person. Even if all we can do is share pictures of our latest creation on social media and promise to make it for our friends and loved ones when we are together again, it brings us into each other’s kitchens. It brings us together.

I learnt how to make Butter Chicken Masala in India a few years ago. We spent a wonderful evening with a great cook called Rahul in Goa, in Southern India. We arrived in Goa having spent several days in Delhi where we had some incredible food experiences. I adore Indian food. I love the smell of freshly roasted spices, the incredible diversity of flavours. I have a taste for chilli, and I love a hot and spicy dish. Butter Chicken Masala is not that though. This recipe does not use chilli. Instead, it uses lots of other fragrant spices and is rich and delicious.

It really is a beautiful dish, and easy enough to make at home. You will need fenugreek leaves and seeds for this recipe. It is unlikely that you will find them in your local supermarket, but if you have an Asian supermarket near you, you will get them easily enough. Small local health food shops should also stock them. I am always delighted to find a huge range of spices and herbs in our local independent health food shop in Gorey.

Ingredients

• 500g skinless chicken thigh or breast
• 6-8 plum tomatoes
• 150g cashew nuts
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 150ml water
• 2 cardamom pods
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 sticks of cinnamon
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 star anise
• 4 tsp fenugreek seeds
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tbsp fenugreek leaves
• A handful of fresh coriander
• 2 tbsp finely grated ginger
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 80g of butter
• 80 ml fresh cream, or coconut milk

Method

Put another tablespoon of coconut oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Cut the chicken into chunks. Cook the chicken for four to five minutes until it is browned and cooked through. Set aside while you make your sauce.

Slice the tomatoes as thinly as possible, I use a Japanese mandolin for this. I have previously mentioned that I try to avoid buying lots of kitchen gadgets, but this is one I really do value and use a lot. Add a tablespoon of coconut oil to a pan over a high heat. Put the tomatoes and the cashew nuts into the pan and add the sugar and some salt to taste. Reduce to a medium heat and cook for five to six minutes.

‪Let the tomatoes cool for a few minutes. Put them along with 300ml of water into a food processor or blender and blitz to a very smooth gravy. This is the base for your sauce. Make sure it is very smooth, if it is not blended enough the nuts will make it a little grainy which is not so nice.

Grate the ginger and garlic. Add all the dry spices and the bay leaves to a dry pan and roast for a few minutes. When they have gotten lovely and fragrant, add the butter, garlic, and the ginger. Next, add the fenugreek leaf and cook until the garlic and ginger browns a little. This will only take a few minutes.

Finally add tomato and cashew gravy, chopped coriander, cooked chicken and the cream or coconut milk. Cover and cook on a low heat for three to four minutes, until you can see butter separate slightly from the sauce. And that is it. Serve with fluffy boiled basmati rice, poppadom, naan, or another side dish.

If you want to make a vegetarian version of this dish, you can use paneer, an Indian farmer’s cheese. You will find that in some large supermarkets, but it is incredibly easy to make. All you will need is two litres of milk, some lemon juice or white vinegar and some cheesecloth. 

You can find out how to do that on my Instagram page where you will also find a great recipe for some very delicious garlic and coriander naan breads.