Recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala (Plus Two Side Dishes)

It had been a while since I last had dinner at my Indian family's house, so I was seriously craving for Indian cuisine. I thus declared last night Indian Night at our household! (Belated Happy Diwali!)

Found a recipe at allrecipes.com, but made do without cilantro--the supermarket was all out. Boo. I thought there was too much salt in the original recipe, so I cut it by about a third. Also, the chicken is supposed to be grilled, but since I still don't have my own grill (double boo), I just lightly fried it. This is quite spicy, so if you're not a fan of the burn, you might want to take it down a notch by cutting all spices in half.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients

1 cup yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1-2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Stir in chicken, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat a grill for high heat.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Thread chicken onto skewers, and discard marinade. Grill until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side. (Note: I lightly fried the chicken in a bit of oil instead.)
   
4. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Season with 2 teaspoons cumin, paprika, and 3 teaspoons salt. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. (Note: Make sure to scrape the spices from the bottom of the pan.) Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. (Note: I only simmered it for about 10 minutes.) Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. (Note: I only simmered it for about 5 minutes.) Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro. Serves 3.
   

Because it's so spicy, you'll want a lot of starch to sop it up. Aside from rice, I prepared two side dishes (shown in the photo above): a simple potato dish which I got from my BFF Madhuri, and a super-refreshing cucumber dish that I got from some forum and modified.

You Say "Po-tah-to"

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, minced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 small-ish potatoes, cubed
Juice of half a lemon
Salt
Curry powder

1. Saute garlic and pepper in a bit of oil until garlic is lightly browned.
2. Add potatoes, lemon juice, salt, and curry powder. Mix well.
3. Cook for five minutes. Done!

Cool as a Cucumber

Ingredients

1 cucumber, peeled and diced
2 tomatoes, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Salt
Cumin

1. In a bowl, mix all ingredients together. You can add cilantro if you've got it.
   
2. Place in refrigerator until ready to serve. Nice and refreshing!