Yoghurt and Butter Chicken Recipe

Pulled out the Easiyo last night to make some yogurt, kept it really simple by using UHT milk instead of heat treating milk, no dirty pans or extra heat in the kitchen. This morning I poured the runny yogurt into a cheesecloth lined strainer over a bowl and put the lot in the fridge. A couple of hours later I scraped the now thick and creamy yogurt out of the cheesecloth and put it into one of the small easiyo containers, had enough to fill it. There is a lot whey left, it's in the fridge I may freeze it for later use.

My son and I tried it, he had it plain and I had mine with a nectarine. It is delicious. Best I've ever made. I only read the tip of straining it through cheesecloth on the net last night to make it more like Greek yoghurt.

Used 1 litre of lowfat generic brand UHT Milk and 2 - 3 tablespoons of plain yoghurt. Milk was $1.19, carton of yoghurt $1.50. Used the rest of the yogurt in the recipe below.

My daughter and I love Butter Chicken, we usually buy it takeaway or use a bottled sauce but I've been wanting to try making it myself. It was very simple to do, just took time, it's not a last minute dish.

Butter Chicken

1.5kg chicken thigh fillets, trim fat and roughly chop
4 cloves garlic crushed
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
60g butter
410g can tomato puree (this is not the same as tomato paste!!)
1 chicken stock cube, crumbled
1 cup cream


1. Combine chicken, spices and yoghurt together in a large bowl * I mixed the spices and yoghurt first then added the chicken combining until well coated. Refrigerate for 2 - 3 hours.

2 Melt half the butter in a large pan, add half the chicken mixture. Stir over heat until chicken is lightly browned. Remove from pan, set aside and repeat with remaining chicken.

3 Return all chicken to pan, then stir in tomato puree, stock cube and 1 cup water. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or until chicken is tender, stirring occasionally. Add cream and stire over heat without boiling until heated through. Serve with rice.