{vurb} editor Megan Cole shares this week’s recipe:
Living in Vancouver I ate a lot of ethnic food and Indian was one of my favourites. It was hard not to walk over to my neighbourhood Indian restaurant every night for a feast of butter chicken, basmati rice and garlic naan. When I moved to Fernie I discovered quickly that it was slim pickin’s for ethnic food, but luckily my dad sent me a copy of Vancouver Indian food legend Vikram Vij’s cookbooks Vij’s at Home: Relax, Honey. Vij’s recipe for butter sauce is one of my favourites and it’s easy, but because I love it so much I’ve made some health conscious choices so I don’t feel as guilty eating it multiple times a month. Enjoy!
What you need:
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 to 3 tbsp crushed garlic (6 to 9 cloves)
1 small can tomato paste
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
1 cup yogurt mixed with 1 1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup water
Heat oil in a medium pot for 1 minute. Add the garlic and saute until it becomes golden brown. It will become slightly sticky but keep stirring. Careful not to let it burn. Add tomato paste and stir well (I find a whisk works well here.) Reduce the heat to low and add paprika, turmeric, salt, cumin, garam masala and coriander. Stir well and saute for four minutes. Stir in water and yoghurt mixture, then turn off heat until you’re ready to serve.
This butter sauce is delicious with sauteed tofu, steamed veggies, cooked chicken and probably pretty much everything.
