Winner Winner Chicken Tikka Masala Dinner!

It’s been a while since I cooked Indian food at home. Why oh why dear reader, has it been so long?

I think it’s been for a couple factors. One- as much as I love cooking Indian food, it can be rather time consuming, with all the multiple spices and marinades and I confess I’ve been feeling a bit lazy lately. My commute to work is now maxing out at a total of 2 hours a day, which sadly leaves less time to cook, write, and do some of the things that I enjoy.

Secondly, a good desi meal also involves some pre planning, and due to the factor above, I haven’t been able to get more than a day ahead for meals. However this day was different. I thankfully had a client meeting in the City and was finally able to work from home which sadly does not happen often.

I kept the ingredients simple and I was lucky enough to have the time earlier in the week to stop by my favorite grocery store Trader Joe’s, where I picked up a packet of chicken breast, garlic, ginger, a little bit of half and half, brown rice and some canned tomatoes. You can find pretty much everything you need at TJ’s to make yourself a delicious chicken tikka masala meal. For those of you wondering why I didn’t use fresh tomatoes? Well dear readers- it’s November. You can still find fresh, local tomatoes at some farmers markets, but for the most part it’s out of season now, so I resorted to canned. Not my ideal scenario, but you do what you have to when it’s not fresh.

So, one aside, that some of you dear readers may not know. Chicken tikka masala isn’t actually particularly Indian! It was created by the British, as they looved to eat Indian in the form of a “gravy” and its much easier to eat when topped on rice, since it soaks up those delicious liquids. That being said, even though it’s not 100% desi and was invented by my ancestral oppressors, I admit it’s still pretty delicious, and M* likes it, so I ended up making it.

To try to make it somewhat healthy- I left out the cream for the most part (just added a dash of half and half for flavoring), and I served it with brown rice and an arugula salad.

Easy Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients
1 lb chicken breast or chicken tenders, skinless and boneless
1 cup yogurt, plain
1 tsp ground cumin
Large piece of ginger- 2 inches
9-10 cloves garlic
2 cans tomatoes (or 6-8 fresh tomatoes if they are in season)
3 tablespoons butter
1 heaping tsp garam masala
1 tsp salt
pinch each of cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, chill powder, coriander
chopped cilantro for garnish
additional salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

First step- I took all 9 cloves of garlic and the 2 inch piece of ginger and I pulverized the mixture on high in my blender. I added half of the garlic/ginger paste it to a cup of yogurt and mixed it all together in a large bowl. I set aside the other half in a small container.
I stirred in the teaspoon of ground cumin to the bowl with yogurt. Then I chopped the chicken breast into bite sized pieces and put it in the bowl of yogurt. I stuck that in the fridge and let it sit for an hour, but you can let it marinate overnight. The longer it marinates, the more tender the chicken.

While the chicken is marinating, you can start making the gravy. Get the remaining garlic-ginger paste and sauté it in the butter on medium high heat, in a heavy bottomed pan. Wait until the garlic and ginger soften and become fragrant. Add the garam masala and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the canned tomatoes or chopped fresh tomatoes and allow the mixture to cook together- about 5 minutes.

 

Add the remaining spices, stir, and lower heat to low. Allow the mixture to simmer for the next 40 minutes on low- the tomatoes should liquify and the fragrance of the spices should fill the room.In a separate pan (cast iron is great!) grill the chicken breast pieces on both sides (no more than 2 minutes a side), and move to a separate plate to rest. Finally, add the chicken breast pieces to the tomato gravy and cook for another 5 minutes or so.

Add additional salt and pepper to taste, and serve hot with brown rice and salad. Devour with gusto.