As a consultant, I’ve traveled everywhere. During my travels in the US, I’ve visited what are the generally top-ranked Indian restaurants on both coasts. Don’t get me wrong, they’re good. But, they’re nothing to write home about. Crazily, when I’m in the Philadelphia area, there’s a little place in the suburbs that is one of the best and most authentic tasting restaurants I’ve visited; this is about their Butter Chicken.
When it comes to Butter Chicken, there’s so many schools of thought. As they won’t divulge their secret, as a hobbyist home chef, I’ve tried twenty-six different recipes attempting to figure out how this restaurant makes something so amazing. There are marked differences between their version and most I’ve had: presentation, texture, and taste.
First, visually, theirs is bright red. I’ve eaten more of this than I can count and think this has to be due to food coloring. I’ve tried every cooking method known to keep tomatoes as red as possible. There’s no way I know of that, especially after adding cream, it can still remain as red as they have it; the end product is almost tomato sauce colored. This is certainly inauthentic, but I don’t know what else it could be; it’s definitely not the spices keeping it this red. If anyone here has any ideas or secrets, especially one that could contribute to taste, that may help me figure it out.
Texture, their butter chicken is smooth but not the fully-run-through-a-sieve smooth most restaurants do. It has a very slight chunky texture, not crushed tomato like but certainly something I can’t place. It doesn’t feel like tomato skin/seeds though.
Lastly, when it comes to flavor, the primary difference between recipes for Butter Chicken concerns onions; many use them while others say onions are only for Tikka Masala. In general, however, most spices are the same, but there is something definitely different about theirs. I think it’s cashew paste. I’ve tried cashews in my own several ways: making my own paste as well as cooking them down in the masala and blending them in. For the latter, I’ve found ~20 cashews the sweet spot for a single serving. But, given the taste, I’m pretty sure they use a cashew paste that’s magical or more in volume than most recipes would call for.
This leads me to the question: does anyone here know of a truly amazing Butter Chicken recipe that uses cashew paste? Or, does anyone know how to make a truly exceptional cashew paste?
I’ve tried roasting the cashews and then making the paste with chicken stock… it’s good but something is still missing.
Any secrets anyone can share? This is truly a mission of mine to figure out how to make at home when I’m not in the area :)
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