One Bite, Two Cultures: The Indian Butter Chicken Burrito

There is little in the world that beats a good burrito. Delicious meats or beans, vegetables, and grains rolled up in a flour tortilla for easy eating — what's not to love? But there really is no reason that burritos need to be limited to Mexican flavors. With this butter chicken burrito, we bring together two cuisines into one delicious and easy-to-eat dish.

The base of the burrito is exactly what you'd get at your local curry house, a nice mound of warm basmati rice. On top of the rice, we ladle plenty of rich, creamy, and perfectly spiced butter chicken. To complete the fusion, each burrito is also filled with kachumber, an Indian salad similar to pico de gallo made with tomatoes, cucumber, and onion, as well as herbs and spices. All together, it is both a delicious meal and a clever meeting of two cultures.

Indian and Mexican flavors actually pair together quite nicely. The two cuisines use many of the same herbs, spices, and aromatics, such as cumin, coriander, cilantro, garlic, cinnamon, and chili. Beyond that, there are a number of dishes that bear striking resemblance to one another across the cuisines. The flour tortillas common to Sonoran cooking are nearly the same as the Indian flatbread, chapati. And the familiar arroz rojo (aka Mexican rice) looks a lot like thakkali sadam (aka Indian tomato rice). If you're still skeptical of the fusion in this dish, one bite and you'll understand.

This recipe is divided into several parts. For the butter chicken, you will need cubed chicken breast, garam masala, coriander, cumin, chili powder, salt, cayenne pepper, Greek yogurt, garlic, ginger, lime juice, butter, crushed tomatoes, and cream. For the kachumber, you will need cucumber, tomato, red onion, cilantro, mint, lime juice, cumin, and salt. And for serving you will need cooked basmati rice and large flour tortillas. Once all of these ingredients are together, you are ready to begin cooking.

Place the chicken in a large container with a lid and coat it well with the garam masala, coriander, cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne pepper.

Add the yogurt, ginger, garlic, and lime juice to the container with the chicken and mix well. Cover and store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours (and as much as a day).

Bring a large skillet or heavy-bottomed pot to medium-high heat and melt the butter.

Add the marinated chicken to the pan and saute for 5 minutes.

Pour in the crushed tomatoes, bring back to medium heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.

While the butter chicken is simmering, make the kachumber by combining the cucumber, tomato, onion, cilantro, mint, lime juice, salt, and cumin in a large bowl and mixing well.

Once the butter chicken has simmered for 10 minutes, remove it from heat and stir in the heavy cream.

Divide the rice, butter chicken, and kachumber evenly between four warm tortillas, and roll into burritos. Serve warm.

The recipe that we've put together here makes an excellent burrito, filled with plenty of rice, spice-laden curry, and cool crunchy vegetables. But, since Mexican and Indian flavors work beautifully together, the two cuisines are easy to pair in myriad ways, so you have lots of options to put your own spin on these burritos.

For starters, you could simply add another layer of flavor to your burrito filling. You could try out a classic sweet and savory mango chutney, or follow Padma Lakshmi's lead with her spicy green apple and mint chutney. Or, if spice isn't your thing, you can add another cool, creamy layer with a yogurt-heavy raita.

There's also no reason that this recipe needs to be limited to butter chicken. It's a great place to start, but once you've had these burritos, you'll understand that it's a great way to eat all your favorite Indian curries. Palak paneer, with its spiced spinach and paneer cheese would be wonderful, as would a warming aloo gobi, with lots of potatoes and cauliflower. You could even try out something a little less mainstream, like a Goan fish curry or a navratan korma. Whatever your favorite dish to order from the Indian restaurant is, it'll almost certainly go really well in a burrito.

Not that long ago, Indian food was relatively alien to many people in the U.S., But that is no longer the case. The rise of the popularity of Indian food across the United States has been swift, and it shows no signs of slowing. Because of this, garam masala, which translates to "hot spices," has become widely available at many grocery stores. That said, as with any product, there's a chance that your local retailer doesn't carry it (or is sold out). Should you find yourself in this situation — craving butter chicken burritos but without access to the all-important spice — there are solutions.

The first and best solution is to just make your own garam masala at home. Garam masala is a spice mix, so making it just means following a simple garam masala recipe and popping the spices in a jar. And you might be surprised to learn that you probably already have a lot of these spices in your cabinet. Garam masala is made with many spices, but some of the core ingredients are often cumin, coriander, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon, and cloves. Even if you don't have all of these, you almost certainly have some on hand and any combination will add a great depth of flavor to the burrito.