It’s Saturday night. You’re hungry, and there might as well be no food on campus (we all know about weekend Dining Hall food). But if you have the time and the resources, hope is not lost.

My friends and I recently pulled ourselves out of the weekend food rut by making a simple Indian dish called chicken makhani or Indian butter chicken. With lactose intolerant friends in our group, we made a few simple adjustments to the original recipe and ended up with a darn good meal.

 Chicken Makhani

Serves four

Before you start, make sure you have two medium skillets, a cutting board, a sharp knife, some sort of larger container to hold the chicken and sauce, and large stirring spoons.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

1/4 white onion, chopped

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste

2 teaspoons garam masala

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup plain soy yogurt

1 cup soy creamer

1 cup tomato puree

Cayenne pepper to taste

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Saute shallot and onion until soft and translucent. Stir in butter, lemon juice, ginger-garlic paste, 1 teaspoon garam masala, and cumin. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add tomato puree and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in soy creamer and soy yogurt. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper. Add cayenne pepper if desired. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat and season with 1 teaspoon garam masala. Stir in a few spoonfuls of sauce and simmer until liquid has reduced and chicken is no longer pink. Stir cooked chicken into sauce.

Stir cornstarch into the sauce. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes or until thickened.

We made a number of adjustments to the original recipe in addition to going dairy-free. For example, I, finding “medium” salsa uncomfortably hot, insisted we only use 1 teaspoon of cayenne — less than the recipe calls for. This added some kick without making the sauce too hot to taste the complex blend of flavors. Then again, I’m biased, so add more if you’d like. Overall, the dish came out wonderfully, but to make a meal, you will need to have something to go with all the extra sauce the recipe makes. We had rice and naan (Indian bread), but a variety of vegetables would also pair nicely. While the sauce was more of a red color than its usual characteristic orange, I was very pleased with the flavor. It was sure better than what you would have had at the DH, and it beats the heck out of ramen.

Recipe modified from allrecipes.com

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-makhani-indian-butter-chicken/detail.aspx