Chicken Tikka Masala

This is by far our most favorite dish to make. It takes a little time and prep, but it is well worth it. This recipe is adapted from Food and Wine Magazine by Grace Parisi. 

The night before marinade your chicken for a super tender and juicy chicken. 

In the marinade:

1 c low fat yogurt

2 tsp minced garlic

1 T. ginger

1.5 T. cumin

1.5 T. coriander

1/4 tsp. cardomom

pinch of cayenne

1/4 tsp turmeric

a pinch of salt

two pinches of pepper

Mix your marinade up:

Add the chicken:

We let the chicken marinade either overnight or for at least 5 hours. 

While the rest of the dish is cooking, broil or grill your chicken. We just grilled it for the first time last week and it added a nice smokey flavor to the dish. You may also consider not completely cooking the chicken via the grill or broiler, instead, cook it until it is almost done then allow it to finish cooking inside the masala. This keeps the chicken juicy, tender and enhances its flavor.

On to the rest!

Salt and pepper, to taste

Olive oil

1 large onion

2 tsp. minced garlic

1.5 tsp minced ginger

2 T. garam masala

1/4 tsp hot red chili powder

35 ounce can of diced tomatoes with their juices

heavy pinch of sugar 

1 cup cream

Begin with your mise en place. I like to stick the sugar, salt and pepper in the can with the tomatoes so that I don't have to rush these things. 

Begin by heating your oil up, then saute the garlic, ginger and onion. Cook until the onion turns clear.

 

 

 

 Next, add the garam masala and hot pepper and saute for just a couple minutes. After the garam masala is mixed in and has fully coated the onion, add the the tomatoes with their juices, sugar, salt and pepper and allow this to simmer for 20 minutes.

 

 

After 20 minutes add the chicken. We don't let the chicken cook fully the first time, so that it stays tender and juicy and finishes cooking with the masala. Simmer the chicken in for 10 minutes. 

 

Finally, add the cream and simmer for another 10 minutes. The recipe calls for heavy cream, but since Dan and I end up eating the whole thing in one sitting ourselves we usually opt for light cream so that it's a tad less artery-clogging. It turns out just as delicious, I think.

 

The night we made this batch, we served it with yellow rice. Tasty turmeric makes the rice this pretty yellow color. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do!