Butter Chicken Curry

Chicken marinade:

Curry sauce:

To finish:

To serve:

Sambal:

Chicken marinade:
Place the chicken thighs in a large bowl. Using clean kitchen shears cut them into two.

Add the lemon zest and juice, garlic, ginger, chilli powder and a pinch of sea salt and mix well. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Mix the yoghurt with the garam masala, turmeric and cumin. Remove the chicken from the fridge and mix into the spiced yoghurt until completely covered. Return to the fridge and leave to marinade for at least 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Set a large metal cooling rack on top of a large baking tray.

Place the pieces of chicken onto the rack and bake for 20 minutes.

Curry sauce:
Using a stick blender, blend the tomatoes into a puree.

Place a large casserole dish over medium heat. Add the butter. Once melted, add the garlic, ginger, cardamom pods, cloves, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, chilli powder and sugar and cook until fragrant.

Add the pureed tomatoes and simmer until the tomato begins to thicken and is well combined with all of the spices. Season to taste.

To finish:
Add the cooked chicken to the curry sauce and gently stir until well coated. Finish the curry with knobs of butter and fresh cream.

Serve with basmati rice, naan bread, coriander and sambal.