# Greg’s not-butter not-chicken

(based on http://norecipes.com/recipe/butter-chicken-recipe/)

## Ingredients

30g Ginger
30g Garlic
2 eggplants
1/3C yoghurt (vegan: skip)
1T vegetable oil
1t salt
1t garam masala
800g stewed (tinned) tomatoes
2T tomato paste
3T butter (vegan: use oil)
12 pods green cardamom
2 pod black cardamom
1 cinnamon stick
6 cloves
2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2 fresh chili peppers
40 grams raw cashew nuts (about 1/4 cup) (vegan: double)
1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves (qasuri methi)
1 teaspoons garam masala
1/3 cup heavy cream

If you don’t have fresh chili peppers, you can substitute 1/2t - 1t of chili powder - kashmiri chili powder will enhance the red colour too.

Combine and blend the ginger and garlic into a paste. If it’s too dry to blend, it’s okay to add a little water.

Cut the eggplants up into 1” cubes.

Combine the yoghurt (if using), vegetable oil, salt, and garam masala and mix.

Puree the tinned tomatoes and tomato paste in a processor or blender until it’s a smooth consistency.

Before you start frying:
- Group green cardamom, black cardamom, cinnamon stick, and cloves into a bowl.
- Group fenugreek seeds, chili peppers, ginger garlic paste into a bowl.

Add the butter (vegan: oil) into a frying pan, melt, and fry the first bowl of spices (cardamom/cinnamon/cloves)  until the cloves are puffy being careful not to burn them.

Add the second bowl (fenugreek seeds, chili peppers, ginger garlic paste) and fry until browned and very fragrant.

Lower the heat to medium and add the tomato puree, reducing and caramelising until it’s a very thick paste (45min - 1hr). This is messy.

While the paste is reducing, grill your eggplants until they’re slightly charred and soft.

Turn your cashew nuts into cashew milk: blend with water until it looks like milk, and top up the volume until it makes up 2C (3C if you doubled the cashews)

When the tomato is reduced and caramelised enough, turn off the heat and add your cashew milk. Mix thoroughly, then strain through a sieve into a saucepan to get a smooth sauce (press through with a spatula for maximum sauce efficiency).

Add the fenugreek leaves, garam masala, salt, and your eggplant and cook on a medium heat for 6-8 minutes.

Finish by adding some cream (vegan: or not), and serve.