Butter chicken but make it wild. Butter chicken is a classic staple in many Indian restaurants. This butter pheasant recipe captures the essence of this delicious dish. It's spicy, creamy, rich, and packed with flavor from the earthy blend of spices. Give it a try today!
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Why This Recipe Works:
Butter chicken or murgh makhani is a very common Indian dish. If you go to any Indian restaurant in the US, they're bound to be serving butter chicken. It's a curry spiced with garam masala and made rich with butter and cream. It gets its color from the combination of spices and tomato paste. Wild pheasant or other game bird meat is an excellent substitution for chicken in this delicious recipe.
Traditionally, butter chicken does not contain coconut milk. But, the combination of cream and coconut milk makes this dish so rich and delicious. It's the perfect recipe for cooking wild pheasant because the meat is marinated in yogurt which helps retain the moisture in the meat. Then, the meat is simmered in the flavorful sauce which also helps keep the meat moist. This dish is so comforting and full of flavor. It's the perfect wild pheasant recipe!
Ingredient Notes:
- Pheasant: This recipe uses pheasant legs and breasts but you can substitute just legs or just breasts or use other game bird meat as well.
- Garam Masala: Garam masala is an Indian spice blend that can vary widely in flavor depending on the spices used. Your butter pheasant may taste different depending on the spice blend you use. Depending on how spicy your blend is, you may want to cut back on the cayenne.
- Naan: Naan is an Indian flatbread. It's an optional ingredient but it is so delicious to mop up all that flavorful sauce.
Step by Step Instructions:
How To Make Indian Butter Pheasant:
This Indian butter pheasant only has a few simple steps but does take a bit of time to make due to the marinating of the meat. But, don't let that deter you! It is so worth the effort. Follow the instructions below for this flavorful pheasant recipe!
Pro Tip: Marinating the pheasant pieces in yogurt overnight will help keep the meat moist and flavorful.
A Note on Hanging Pheasants:
There is a lot of debate on whether or not it's necessary to hang pheasants. The purpose of hanging pheasants is to increase the tenderness of the meat and make it more flavorful. You can process pheasant meat right away, hang it for a few days, or hang it for many days. It all depends on preference! If you're interested in trying it out, here are a few takeaways:
- You need special equipment or an extra fridge in order to hang pheasants. They should be hung at fridge temperatures with little variation (i.e. don't hang them outside with 20-degree temperature swings). If you have an extra fridge, all you need is a piece of wood or bar to hang the pheasants from and some sort of rope, paracord, etc. to wrap around their necks.
- Pheasants can be hung anywhere from 3-10 days. If you get towards the 10 days or further, you might start developing some off-flavors in the meat. Hanging only 1-2 days will probably not make much of a difference and you might as well save yourself the effort.
- Pheasants that have been hung will be harder to pluck if that's something you wish to do. Fresh pheasants are much easier to pluck.
- Pay attention to where your bird was shot. If any guts were shot, process it right away, and don't hang it.
- For recipes like this butter pheasant, you probably won't notice much of a difference between a bird that was hung or one that was processed right away. The difference can be seen in recipes like this sous vide pheasant breast or smoked pheasant where you can taste the meat more than the spices used.
Putting it All Together:
Once you have your delicious butter pheasant sauce, all you need is some warm jasmine rice (or your favorite rice), chopped cilantro, and warm naan for serving. You're going to love making this tasty Indian dish with your game bird harvests!
Recipe FAQ's:
Pheasant breasts are typically very lean and do well with moist heat like sous vide cooking, or cooking in a sauce like in this butter pheasant recipe.
Soaking pheasant in milk can help remove off-flavors and retain some moisture in the meat. This Indian butter pheasant recipe calls for a yogurt marinade which has a similar outcome.
Using moist heat like sous vide, braising, etc. helps keep pheasant meat moist. Dry heat like pan-searing or roasting can dry out the meat quickly if it gets overcooked.
Other Recipes to Try:
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Recipe:
Spicy Indian Butter Pheasant
Equipment
- large saute pan
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ lb pheasant breasts and legs, cut into bite-size chunks (about 1 ½ whole pheasants)
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 4 teaspoon garam masala, divided
- 1 onion, grated
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- 2 tablespoon salted butter, divided
- ⅓ cup tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne
- 1 can coconut milk
- ¾ cup half and half
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish
- 3 cups cooked jasmine rice, for serving
- warm naan, for serving
Instructions
- Combine yogurt, lemon juice, and 2 teaspoon garam masala in a medium bowl. Add in pheasant pieces and toss to combine. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in 1 tablespoon butter. Add pheasant to pan, working in batches if necessary to avoid crowding the pan. Cook until starting to brown, about 5-10 minutes. It's ok if it doesn't get cooked all the way through, it will finish cooking in the sauce. Remove pheasant to a plate.
- Add in remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Add in onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook until softened, about 3-5 minutes. Add in tomato paste, remaining 2 teaspoon of garam masala, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, paprika, cayenne, and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add in coconut milk and cream. Stir until tomato paste dissolves in the liquid. Add pheasant back in. Bring to a simmer and cook until pheasant is done and sauce is slightly thickened, about 10-15 minutes.
- Serve over warm jasmine rice and top with fresh cilantro. There will be extra sauce but it's perfect for dipping warm naan in.
Notes
- Marinating the pheasant meat overnight in yogurt helps retain the moisture in the meat and helps tenderize it.
- You can substitute just legs or just breasts or use other game bird meat for this recipe.
- Garam masala can vary widely in flavor and spiciness depending on the blend you use. Make sure you know what your blend tastes like before trying this recipe. If your garam masala blend is already spicy, you may want to cut back on the cayenne.
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