When I was in college, I joined a club that created a quarterly nutrition magazine, and I was given the task of testing different curry recipes. I really didn’t have much extra money, so I took my last $30 of the month and bought groceries to try those recipes. Well, for whatever reason, the editor didn’t like my work. She nixed it and wrote the article herself.
Needless to say, I developed an aversion to curry after that.
Flash forward a few years and now I’m married a guy who loves food- all kinds, all ethnicities, (except black olives). Durham has a big food scene and Will always wants to try new restaurants. He’s even dragged me to a few Indian places but I still wasn’t sold.
Well, quarantine changed me. (Just kidding! It’s not that dramatic.) For whatever reason, I got an inkling to try a butter chicken recipe a few months back and I fell in love! I made it a few times, tweaked it bit by bit, and ended up with the perfect recipe.
As a Dietitian, I am always looking to create healthier alternatives. I played around with the ratios of chicken and spices until I finally came up with this beauty. This dish still tastes just as good without full-fat products and even without using butter (which is usually the key ingredient to any butter chicken recipe). I love it paired with some jasmine rice or some toasted Naan bread!
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 3 chicken breasts (about 2.5 lbs)
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 tsp minced garlic (or 2 cloves, minced)
- 1 Tbsp ginger paste or fresh grated ginger
- 2 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
- 1 can (14 oz) lite coconut milk
- 6 oz fat-free plain Greek yogurt
- Cilantro for garnish
Instructions:
- Cook chicken with preferred method (I usually just broil mine until the internal temperature reaches 165 F). Once cooked through, cut up into bite sized pieces.
- Dice the onion and sauté it in olive oil until it turns clear.
- Add in garlic, ginger, curry powder, and turmeric. Cook for a minute.
- Stir in tomato paste and coconut milk. Let simmer for ~5 minutes.
- Stir in Greek yogurt. Once mixed through, add in chicken. Let simmer for another ~3 minutes.
- Serve over rice and top with chopped cilantro
Yields: about 6 servings
Nutrition facts per serving: 300 kcals / 50 g protein / 9 g carbs / 6 g fat / 162 mg sodium
Creatively Catie 