We love ’em during celebrations and need them when we’re down in the dumps. Whether warm and carby or sweet and refreshing, comfort foods never fail to bring a smile. Today, I want to chat about my top 3 comfort foods: a little bit of their history, fun facts, personal recipes 👩‍🍳 and go-to spots.

PS: I did not expect this post to end up being so long. Please come back for part 2 where I talk about my other favourite comfort food – FALAFEL SHWARMA!

Butter chicken

Creamy, tomato-y, and packed with flavour. This is a comfort dish that never fails to please the masses. This is something I keep in regular rotation in my house. Because once you nail *your* version of butter chicken it becomes one of those no-brainer meals.

Fun fact! Butter chicken is so good that two restaurants went to court THIS YEAR to contest the origins of the curry. “The fight is between the grandsons of the two men who founded Moti Mahal, the restaurant where butter chicken was likely first served in India,” writes NPR. The history is long and heated – and I will not do it any justice – so if you want o learn more, read here.

But most can agree that butter chicken came to life cooking leftover tandoori chicken in a velvety tomato gravy, enriched with butter.

Zahraa’s Butter Chicken🍲. It uses at-home ingredients and requires some prep. I do not claim for this to be authentic – but it is elementary and near fail-proof.

🍴Prep your chicken (fillets or bone-in pieces) by marinating in a mixture of yoghurt, chilli powder, chopped ginger and garlic, salt and pepper, and a squeeze of lemon. Marinate anywhere from 1 hour to overnight.

🥣Brown your marinated chicken in an oven set at 200C for 10 minutes. The marinade will char slightly. I would not recommend doing this in a pan on the stove, as the marinade will burn too quickly. The chicken will not be fully cooked, but this method does help prevent over- or undercooking your meat. The charred marinade also adds depth to the sauce.

🔪Chop up your onion and tomato, while the chicken browns.

🌶In a pot with some oil, add whole spices on medium heat. Mustard seeds, coriander seeds, a stick of cinnamon, cardamom pods and cumin seeds. Add them to the pot while the oil is still cold and wait until they pop and fizzle.

🧈Add your chopped onions. Cook on medium heat. Sweat the onions down until translucent then add in a big knob of butter along with the chopped tomatoes. Sprinkle in a pinch of salt. Along with chopped garlic and ginger/garlic-ginger paste (a lot of it).

🧅🍅Cook the vegetables until most moisture cooks away, and the tomato-onion mixture is almost homogenous. It will take about 5 to 7 minutes to get to this point.

🍋Deglaze your pot with lemon juice, scraping the bottom of the pot as the liquid boils away.

🌶Add in your masala! I use turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander and cumin powder, salt and pepper. Toast the spices in the onion-tomato mixture. Add in tomato paste and cook it until it darkens in colour.

🥛Pour in heavy cream and boiling water into the pot. Stir the spiced mixture through until the cream turns a sunset orange colour (or yellow if you use more turmeric).

🍗Remove your chicken from the oven after 10 minutes, and place it into the creamy mixture along with the pan drippings.

🥘Turn the heat up until the pot comes to a boil. Once the first few bubbles appear, turn the heat to low and put on the pot lid. Simmer the mixture for 15 minutes until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce has thickened slightly.

🫓Finish off the curry with freshly chopped coriander and large knobs of butter. Serve with hot rice and naan!

Why do we love comfort foods 😍 so much?

A lot of it has to do with evolution. Research suggests that ancient humans survived on limited resources, and storing fat was vital. Foods high in sugar and fat were a rare commodity, and therefore, more desirable.

Another reason for its appeal is to do with our brains. Comfort foods trigger dopamine, the neurotransmitter linked to reward, pleasure and motivation. This is also why we often reach for that extra helping or larger slice! Even just thinking about a certain comfort food can trigger dopamine!

And finally, comfort foods are linked to good memories and social events. Think back to the first time your mom made THAT chicken curry. Or when you enjoyed a lemon meringue pie on the beach for your birthday. Comfort foods are almost like mini time machines that transport you back to fond memories, or like glue, making family and friends stick together in the moment.