Chicken with Tomato Sauce and Butter

In preparation for our impending time in India, we have been slowly trying out Indian cuisine.  Since there really are no Indian restaurants in the middle of KS, we have been doing it at home.  Unfortunately, given my pregnant aversion to all food, I had not made Indian dishes in a while.  Enter sad husband.  He really really wanted some.  So for about 3 days, he bugged me to make food.  Then he started telling me - I will make it for us. To be honest, sometimes I cringe when he gets in the kitchen, or when I have to direct cooking.  But he said I want to make some for you.  After some inner thought, I resigned myself to letting my husband spend an afternoon in my kitchen making me dinner with the express condition that he must find a recipe where the ingredients are relatively benign and won't cause any pregnancy unpleasantness.  Here is want he found:

Chicken with Tomato Sauce and Butter

from Madhur Jaffrey's An Invitation to Indian Cooking

Ingredients

4 chicken legs
2 chicken breasts (we just used a pound and half of chicken breasts)
2 medium sized onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
fresh ginger, 2 inches long by 1 inch wide, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 cinnamon stick, 2 1/2 - 3 inches, broken up
Seeds from 6 whole cardamom pods
8 whole cloves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
2 bay leaves, crumbled
1 hot dried red pepper, crumbled (to save my tummy - I think we added about a 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes)
3 tbsp water
6 tbsp vegetable oil
16 oz canned tomato sauce
3/4 cup water
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp lightly salted butter

Steps

1.  Since we only had chicken breasts, we just washed them, quartered them, and set them aside.  If you have chicken pieces, remove skin, pat dry, and put aside.
2.  In a blender, combine the onions, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom seeds, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, red pepper, and 3 tbsp water.  Blend to a smooth paste.
3.  Heat oil in a 3.5 quart dutch oven over a high heat.  When hot, put in the chicken pieces, and brown them quickly (a minute per side).  Remove with slotted spoon.  If need be brown chicken in batches.
4.  Turn heat to medium and pour in paste from blender.  Stir and fry for 5 minutes, scraping bottom of pot well.
5.  Add tomato sauce, 3/4 cup water, and salt.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat to simmer for about 30 minutes.  Stir every 6 to 7 minutes.
6.  Add the chicken pieces to the pot along with any juices that may have collected.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer on low for 25 to 30 minutes.  Stir gently to avoid sticking.
7.  Cut butter into 4 pats,  Take chicken off heat and drop in the butter.  Stir to incorporate and serve immediately.

The Final Product
 
After spending most of the afternoon smelling the mixture of spices from the kitchen, I almost had second thoughts of sitting down and eating this meal.  But I am glad I pushed through the queasiness because it was totally yummy.  The spice was not to hot but definitely gave a kick.  Not to much of a kick because my tummy really enjoyed the meal.  We ended up with a lot of sauce mixture.  Next time, I would probably throw in another pound of chicken breasts just so we don't have to get rid of the sauce.

I have to thank my hubby for insisting that he make me dinner.  Now for his immortalization: