Help! How to thicken sauce

[Nifty-Chicken]

My wife just made my favorite chicken makhani / Indian Butter Chicken that has tomato / cream base (which will be in the BYC cookbook).

It is a bit "thin" this time. Any quick / easy ways to thicken it without changing the taste too much?

My dinner rests in your hands...













AND I'M STARVING, SO HURRY UP!!!

 

[crtrlovr]

use cornstarch, or you can use instant potato flakes

 

[Shelanie]

I thicken sauces with butter and flour melted together, plain flour or cornstarch works too.

 

[Chic-n-farmer]

Quote:
Was it anybody we know??

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Nope, nobody you know.

Thanks for all the ideas. I got called to dinner and didn't get a chance to do any experimenting. I think I'll try a few of the above ideas and see how they each go.

Thanks!

 

[bigmike&nan]

Quote:
The French do something very similiar. In a coffee cup take about 2 Tbls softened butter, add 4 Tbls all purpose flour and cream it together into a smooth paste. This is then added to your sauce (say the Holiday Turkey Gravy, or the gravy of a pot roast) and allowed to simmer 5 to 10 minutes... The softened butter acts as a vehicle to distribute the flour into the sauce without it lumping so easily. Never heard of melting the butter and flour though I am sure it would work.

The French method I described is called a Burre Manier

 

[Shelanie]

I make a creamed corn dish and this is the thickening agent. I have never heard of it before that recipe, it just says to melt the butter in the sauce pan and add the flour, mix well over medium heat until bubbly then add to the corn, dairy mixture. Works great for the dish.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

all of those suggestions are good and will work, however, if you are cooking indian food the most typically used thickening agent is fried onions.
Buy them in a bag at the indian grocery and just toss in a handful (amount varies depending on the size of pot and amount of liquids etc.) towards serving time. I have a small hand and one usually does it - go easy it takes it a few minutes to thicken.

 

[StupidBird]

KatytheChickenLady, fried onions as thickening sounds really good! Going to add that to the shopping list for the specialty stores...

Emergency thickening:
Cornstarch + cold water, stirred to suspend then quickly stirred in hot cooking food. Best choice for those clear gravies/sauces.
Flour + cold water in a tightly lidded container, shake well to suspend, then quickly stirred into hot cooking food. Takes a little longer than cornstarch.
Potato flakes work too, but I'm allergic to the sulphite whiteners /preservatives.
Has anyone used arrow root? I see that in the specialty markets.

 

[Junkmanme]

I just take a little bit of cool water in a cup and add either flour or cornstarch (use twice as much flour as you would cornstarch). Then I mix it real good with a spoon. Then, I add this "runny" paste to the sauce or gravy which is too thin.

(I don't get any "lumps" when I do it THIS WAY.)

It will quickly thicken as this is cooked into it.

just this "country boy's" way of doin' it.

-Junkmanme-