Chicken Tikka Masala

Cooking Indian food can be very intimidating! A good introductory dish to learning about the deliciousness of Indian cuisine is Chicken Tikka Masala. It's full of many flavors including ginger, roasted chicken, tangy yogurt, smoky cumin, cardamom, ginger, onion, garlic, and so on. The recipe we tried was quite balanced and full flavor.

Recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/06/chicken-tikka-masala-by-pastor-ryan/#recipe-form-29690

Dan's Version and Comments

 The yogurt adds tang while cream adds thickness and rounds out the spices.

Chicken "tikama...lost my mind." This was absolutely amazing. The dish calls for slightly more cream than I think is necessary, so I scaled back slightly.

Use quinoa for a slightly healthier version of this dish.

Remember to add the sugar. It really helps cut through the acidity of the tomatoes. Also, after adding the cream, you really have to let it simmer for some time so all the flavors come out to play.

Mo's Version and Comments

 Grind or crush the coriander before seasoning the chicken.

 Cover in yogurt. This helps give the chicken a slightly tangy flavor. 

Remove when edges are nicely charred. 

 Garlic, ginger, and onion

 Chop the chicken into large, uniformly sized chunks.

 Heavy cream. Forgive us for we have sinned! I used 1C, though you could probably get away with using 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup, depending on how creamy you enjoy your masala. 

Let simmer for a bit. Add a few dashes of cayenne depending on how hot you like it. 

 Add chicken.

 Garnish with cilantro and serve with naan (or pita). 

Great, simple dish that I'll definitely make time and again. Garam masala is an awesome spice, and the 3 tbs added made this recipe. It's a mix of cloves, cinnamon, pepper, cumin, and cardamom. 

Try it!

Next week: honey-sriracha chicken wings!