Paste for Butter Chicken Curry

EDIT DEC 2018:They seem to have reformulated this a bit. It's pretty spicy now. It's weird - it's labeled as mild. It is not mild. Especially compared to their Tikka Masala, which is labeled as medium, but is much less spicy than this. I don't get it. It's still good, but honestly, I throw in some heavy cream or yogurt to smooth it out if I make this with just chicken. I now tend to make this in the instant pot - just toss in the paste, water (a tad less than called for), butter, chicken, turn the pot on for 10min and let it do most of the way NPR. Makes for very tender chicken. If I want to make rice in there too, I'll do 5 mins, then QR, add in the little metal covered pot with the rinsed rice/water on a trivet over my butter chicken, 5 more mins and 10 min NPR, then QR. Easy one pot meal. Only about 2 mins of prep work.-------------------------Original review:It's actually pretty amazing how delicious this is, especially when it's so simple to cook! It tastes like it came from a restaurant and at a fraction of the cost. It's spicy, spicy enough to make my nose run, but not so spicy that it hurts - it's just right.Here's how I cook it:Slice an onion up, throw it in the pot.Throw chunks of peeled carrot into the pot.Put 1 to 1 1/2 lbs raw chicken, cut into chunks, in the pot.Pour 1 cup water, and butter (3 teaspoons? I don't remember, it's in the directions) into the pot.Empty paste package into pot, make sure paste is broken into chunks - it will "melt" when it heats up.Then simmer for 25mins or so with lid on, stirring thoroughly every 5 mins or so to make sure all the paste chunks dissolve and that the meat is cooked evenly.Tip: It may look like you need more water at first, but the chicken will release juices. You probably do not need more water. If you find your curry is TOO thin, either you can simmer it with the lid off until water evaporates and gives you the desired consistency, or, if you want to speed it up (or prevent any veggies in there from turning to mush from simmering too long), you can:Take pot off heat, pour liquid from pot into a non-stick frying pan - the bigger around, the better. Heat the liquid in the pan till it's simmering. Let it simmer till it is the desired consistency, STIRRING CONSTANTLY (VERY IMPORTANT!!! - it only takes two or three minutes, so keep stirring or it will burn), then just pour it back in with your chicken. Very easy.Great curry paste, so easy, and you can just pair it with rice (rice cookers are AWESOME) or some naan, if that's your thing, or rice AND naan for some mega carbohydrates!

Delicious shortcut for a quick and easy dinner. We've been buying this paste for probably over a decade and it's just so good. We used to make it with chicken as the package suggests, but we now have vegetarians in our house and regularly make it with any combination of paneer, peas, tofu, kidney beans, potatoes, etc. We love it! Quick note on the spice level - it wouldn't be considered spicy at all in comparison to Indian food from a restaurant, but it's got some spice for an American palate. If you're OK with the level of heat of Franks Red Hot, this is probably comparable. If you don't like spicy at all, skip this one.

Easy to make and yummy! I usually add carrots, but I think most vegetables would taste good too!

Love this for buttered chicken. It makes the chicken super tender and tasty after following the instructions on the package.

Takes up so little space in my cupboards compared to jarred sauce and tastes very good. I would definitely recommend it, as long as you are ok with buying more than one packet.

I lived in Nepal for a few months, and this is the best and most authentic butter chicken masala curry I've found in the States. It's easy to prepare and delicious.

Grear Taste; Great Value to Save time on Quality food

Taste better making butter chicken