A bridge beyond butter chicken
Why I went from #nomorebutterchicken to going #beyondbutterchicken
At 5.49 pm on a wintry June evening, I complete my introduction to a group of Kiwis joining me on today’s Indian food walk. I ask them to introduce themselves by sharing their favourite Indian dish.
Seven of my ten groupies sheepishly admit it’s butter chicken.
I wonder if it’s because they heard of my reputation as the Butter Chicken police. Quickly, I straighten the furniture on my face and reassure them that butter chicken does deserve their love.
But only when it’s cooked right.
I’m talking about the layered, smoky version where time is taken to chargrill the chicken first. When the gravy is made rich not just with cream and butter but generous servings of cashews. When both tomatoes and yogurt add tanginess to the gravy.
Not the radioactive orange, ketchupy stuff that’s peddled around the world. With so much food colour in it that your fingers stain orange and a heaviness that makes you want to burp out a full chicken.
I often wonder if Kundan Lal Gujral and Kundan Lal Jaggi - the two men credited with inventing Murgh Makhani at their restaurant Moti Mahal - had an inkling of the revolution they were putting into action when they tried to save some dried-up tandoori chicken by dipping into a buttery rich tomato gravy.
Murgh Makhani - the Hindi name for butter chicken - is everywhere
I can’t go on Instagram for longer than a day before I’m served up endless videos of butter chicken. People dipping alarmingly large pieces of naan into wobbly containers of bright red gravy. Instant pot butter chicken. Kiwi butter chicken? A small town takeaway claiming they sold 1,300 plates of butter chicken!
I wanted to clobber my search marketing consultant when he suggested I write blog posts about it on my curry paste website because the term ‘butter chicken’ has an average monthly search volume of 400,000. And, I even got into a comment storm with one reviewer who proclaimed their dream was to review every butter chicken there was to be had in NZ.
Why? I could not understand the fascination. India is home to at least 734 different types of curries!
Ridding the world of bad butter chicken became my life’s mission for a while. I became the Butter Chicken Police.
Butter chicken is not just everywhere but in every form
Think of any nation’s popular dish, and you’ll find a butter chicken version of it.
Butter chicken enchiladas, butter chicken tacos, butter chicken pizza and butter chicken pasta are common now. Kiwi pie lovers love their butter chicken pie, and yes, there was a butter chicken sushi too.
Butter chicken crimes multiplying with the same intensity that the Indian diaspora is. Why were these people (criminals!?) ruining not both butter chicken and my favourite comfort foods?
I’m ashamed to admit I went after all of them. We couldn’t be friends if you admitted you were eating Butter Chicken Zoodles. These crimes had to be corrected.
Becoming curious about butter chicken flipped my perspective.
My “word” for 2023 was curiosity. With that gate open, questions started bubbling like the oil in my kadhai when I fry Kheema Kebabs.
What was it specifically about butter chicken that rankled?
What options does the average Indian food lover outside India have?
And, what could I learn from butter chicken’s popularity to create awareness about Indian favourites like Tadka Dahl, Kosha Mangsho or Ghee Roast
Rather than catching criminals like a good policewoman, I had to focus on serving the community.
What really got my goat was the ignorant, butter chicken cult. People saying “mmmm delicious” as they gobbled boxes of radioactive orange butter chicken on TikTok yet claimed that ALL other Indian food was spicy were not my people.
That influencer I got into a fight with? I liked his idea of using a restaurant’s butter chicken as a litmus test. That how a restaurant cooked their butter chicken would tell me about the love and care they put into other things they cooked. Could I taste the bitter umami that came from adding fenugreek leaves, or were they just stirring in stale garam masala?
The game-changer? Realising that I was a perpetrator wearing a police uniform. I hated being stereotyped for bringing unfamiliar food for school lunch, yet here I was now, stereotyping the palates of entire populations. A butter chicken pie is actually quite delicious.
The story I was telling myself was that no one was curious enough about Indian food. But really, I was not meeting people where they were at.
The message wasn’t #nomorebutterchicken.
It was, let’s go #beyondbutterchicken.
I had to build a bridge.
Demystify ghee. Explain why they should eat roti, not naan.
Share something I took for granted. An Indian pantry shopping list.
And almost relentlessly, repeat that it was time to go beyond butter chicken. Even if that was one safe, sweet(ish), creamy(ish) curry at a time.
These days, when people admit their favourite Indian dish is butter chicken, I share my recipe. Or tell them what makes a restaurant butter chicken a real Murgh Makhani. I then encourage them to try a Malai Kofta or a Kheema Pav. Both are made with similar ingredients.
We still have time. Not seen a butter chicken cauliflower ice cream on the inter-webs yet.
A big thank you to
, , and Samantha Law for cheering me on and challenging me to write this piece.Shoutout also to
who does so much work within this space with her food writing.In that dream cookbook I’m planning, this will be the final chapter I think. Publishers, are you listening?
Where is your recipe? I need to try it.
I did not know about cashews! Your descriptions make me hungry for more!