Butter Chicken Pasta

Butter chicken + pasta = winner. I could have done with thickening the sauce a bit more and cashew butter doesn't melt well at all and is hard to find amongst the chicken, so next time I would pre melt that. I added sour cream to mine because I am a wuss.

Ingredients

• 300g short pasta

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp butter

• 450g chicken, chopped

• 1 medium onion, diced

• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped

• 1 tsp garam masala

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp chili powder

• 1/2 tsp turmeric

• 1/4 tsp red chili flakes

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 2 cups passata

• 2 tbsp almond (or cashew) butter

• 1 cup single cream

• Salt

• Ground black  pepper

• Fresh coriander, torn (or dry coriander leaf)

Method

1. Cook the pasta al dente and reserve 1-2 cups of pasta water before draining.

2. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large pan over medium heat.

3. Add the chicken and cook until golden on all sides.

4. Stir in the onion, garlic and ginger and continue to cook for 2-3 mins until softened.

5. Add the garam masala, cumin, coriander, chili powder, turmeric, and red chili flakes and cook for 1 min, stirring constantly.

6. Add the tomato paste and passata and stir to combine.

7. Stir in the almond butter and single cream, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 4-5 mins or until the sauce has thickened.

8. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and toss to coat well in the sauce, add pasta water if it’s too thick.

9. Sprinkle with coriander.