I’m a big fan of Indian cuisine, but I hate paying restaurant prices. It’s worse than hitting up your local sushi bar! I mean, seriously, $12 for a plate of chicken with spices (aka Butter Chicken)? I can make that shizzle at home—and better!

So I did, with the aid of Kitchens of India, an inexpeez ready-made spice packet for Butter Chicken found at my local H-E-B.

THE METHOD:

In a pan, we combined approximately 1 lb. of boneless chicken breasts, cut into small chunks, with 3 T butter (slightly more, due to Celebrity Intern’s heavy hand!), plus the contents of the Kitchens of India Butter Chicken Curry Paste packet. We mixed it up and simmered for 20 minutes under a lid. We then simmered on high for another 5 minutes, before removing from heat, covering, and letting sit for another 3 minutes. We also combined a packet of Tasty (i.e. NASTY) Bite Chunky Chickpeas, supposedly with garlic, ginger and “aromatic spices,” which I had lying in wait after a run-in with their doubly-nasty chickpea & lentil combo (a word to the wise: avoid this product at all costs and just buy yourself a can of plain chickpeas instead!). After fine-chopping some freshly-washed cilantro, we plated it up and got this:

(Photos by Celebrity Intern, who complained about the lack of natural sunlight.)

Superb! Stupendous! Only $8 for dinner for two!

Seriously, yo. Stop overpaying for Indian cuisine, and make it yo’damn-self. It’s delish, it’s inexpensive, and it’s easy to do.

Suggested wine pairings:

Related Posts

• June 27, 2011 -- Slow-carb heaven: Taco salad
• May 30, 2010 -- My Texas Life free H-E-B magazine’s outlandish letters
• February 5, 2012 -- Super Bowl… lentils?

Tags: aromatic spices, Butter Chicken, Butter Chicken on the cheap, Celebrity Intern, chickpeas, garbanzo beans, garlic, ginger, H-E-B, HEB, Home Cookin', Indian cuisine, Indian food, Kitchens of India, lentils, Tasty Bite Chunky Chickpeas

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 9th, 2010 at 6:56 PM and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.