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!
   

My Best Friend's Wedding: Fashion Show

Ladies, if you think you have trouble figuring out what to wear to a friend's wedding, just think that you could have bigger fashion problems. Just consider what my friend Surabhi said when we talked about Indian weddings: "It's so hard because you have to think of four different outfits for every wedding!" It's tough work but the result is a visual feast.

With the bride and groom (in matching turquoise), the bride's mom,
and our friend K

For the Sangeet, the outfit required was "traditional." For girls, this meant a sari. For boys, this meant my husband wore this for the first time...

So cute! And he matched the bride and groom! Mads insisted on providing us with outfits. She made me this cute dress, with a very heavy, coral-like neckpiece; she also made pants to go with it, to make the outfit more Indian. Hamil's outfit, fresh from India, came with matching pants, but the fit was a bit awkward so he wore his own. He kind of looked like he was a member of the groom's family...

I would have wanted to wear my gorgeous sari, but Mads said, "No! Save the best for last!" Meanwhile, our other Pinay friends wore their saris, also courtesy of Mads...

K and Pam and their Indian poses on the dance floor. Pam was quite the headturner that night!

She reserved an animal-print fabric for Pam--an edgy fabric that suited this super fashion stylist (and which caught the attention of every table she passed). It was too loose on her, so we spent twenty minutes in her room trying to secure everything so she wouldn't give everyone a free show. I think it pretty much held up during all the dancing we did that night.

For the beach barbecue, we were encouraged to wear "floral." I just wore a black eyelet dress and my famous floral wedges...

You already saw a sampling of the costumes at the Youngsters' Party in my previous post, so let's skip to the actual wedding. I LOVED my sari--and so did K! When Mads asked her to choose a fabric prior to the wedding, K eyed mine. But sweet Mads had already reserved it for me. "It's your color," she told me, gently prodding me to choose the fabric among the multitude that she showed me. (BFFs naturally get first dibs. Haha.)

With my dapper husband

It's a mustard yellow with intricate gold embroidery. The aunties were stopping me and telling me that I looked "very nice." When I mentioned this to Mads, she remarked, "Wow, even the aunties were impressed!"--normally a tough bunch to please!

Luckily, I didn't have to figure out the draping much--all I had to figure out was how to suck in my stomach for several hours. Mads had the sari sewn so that all I had to do was wrap it around once and place it over my shoulder. Sari veterans (like Mads's mom) could artfully drape a plain piece of fabric (albeit one that's six yards long) around their bodies.

A little bit of skin

While I adored my sari, it didn't come close to Mads's and Muks's breathtaking outfits...

Now take all the pinks and blues and yellows and bling, and multiply them by 500, and you'll get an idea of just how dazzling an Indian wedding is--a wonderful reflection of their colorful, beautiful culture.

Photos from Heidi Valencia and Jamie Lihan of Imagine Nation, K, and my own cam

My Best Friend's Wedding: Indian Weddings 101

I love love love Indian weddings! I attended my first one a few years ago and it introduced me to the true definition of the word "spectacle"! While some of my Indian friends are already kind of jaded when it comes to going to weddings, I'm always thrilled to be invited to one.

There are so many events (and prayers in between) leading up to the actual wedding: The Mendhi ceremony is when the bride gets these henna tattoos drawn on her hands, arms, and feet--the letters of the groom's name are hidden in the intricate design. Alas, I missed Mads's as I wasn't in Cebu yet. But during my Indian-themed bachelorette party, Mads served as Mendhi artist, drawing fabulous peacocks on everyone's hands.

(Top) Mads hard at work at my bachelorette party; (above) my glowing best friend at her Mendhi ceremony

On the official day of festivities at Mads and Mukesh's wedding, there was the ring ceremony and the Sagri--a ceremony where the groom's family gets to know the bride, if I understand correctly. These were followed by one of my most favorite events at Indian weddings: the Sangeet.

The grand stage at M&M's Sangeet

The Sangeet is a big program prepared by the bride and groom's family and friends. I really enjoy it because, aside from being very entertaining, it's a manifestation of the family and friends' love for the couple. So much time and effort go into preparing for it; several practice sessions take place so people can perfect a dance, a song number, a skit. I can't imagine Pinoys doing this over and over again--sometimes several times a year when there is one wedding after another!

The bride and groom, part of an audience of about 600 guests, show their appreciation

M&M's Sangeet revolved around "Gossip Auntie," a takeoff from Gossip Girl. Gossip auntie was a fictitious busybody auntie who, through the course of sending tsismis text messages about M&M, effectively told the story of the couple. The messages also served as introductions to the dance numbers.

The finale was a number by the friends, which I choreographed. It was a dance-off between the couple's guy and girl friends. We had around three practice sessions before heading for Cebu, which wasn't easy considering this was during the transition period between my old and new jobs! But anything for my BFF!

(Top) Mads joined the girls, (above) while Muks joined the boys. I called Mahesh (leftmost guy) my star student because he really wanted to master the dance!

After the program, everyone usually gets on the dance floor to shake their groove thang...

The bride struttin' her stuff

And when I say "everyone," I mean everyone--young and old!

Hamil and I LOVED this guy! He was just dancing all. Night. Long. With anyone and everyone!

I love how people are so game to dance, no prodding required. Pinoys are normally shy when it comes to dancing at weddings (I'd like to think our wedding was an exception though!), so Indian weddings are a refreshing change! Everyone's just so ready to party! (The free-flowing alcohol certainly helps...)

The following evening, there was a seaside barbecue, complete with bands and fire dancers.

But this was just a prelude to the night's main event: the Youngsters' Party. If you haven't figured it out by now, Indians are all about partying--and they definitely go all out when it comes to costume parties! M&M's theme was Madonna and Michael Jackson, so you had to come dressed as either one. Just so you have an idea of how seriously they take the whole costume business:

(From top) M&M as M (Michael) and M (Madonna)--Muks wore a scary-ask mask; the bride's (and my) sister was legally blonde; Mahesh, who always has showstopper costumes, with his gorgeous wife Karis (aka Riana)

Mads wore a Preview-worthy dress by Patrick Galang. And I came as A League of Their Own Madonna, first because I didn't want to wear heels for hours as I anticipated a night of dancing, and second because I figured no one else would come in that outfit!

(Left) My costume; (right) my inspiration

The following day was finally wedding day!

Til this day, I don't understand exactly what happens at Indian weddings. During previous weddings, people seated beside me would try to explain what was going on. All I know is that at some point, the bride and groom walk around the fire...

And...the bride changes her name! It totally blew my mind the first time I heard about it. They announce what the bride's new name is going to be (Madhuri is now Rania); the bride also takes on the husband's first name as her middle name, and his last name as her last name. She becomes a whole new person! She gets to choose her name (there are auspicious letters given), so that's kind of fun. Normally, though, it's only the husband's side and her new acquaintances that call her by her new name. To me, she will forever be Madhuri!

Also, the bride is supposed to leave ALL her old stuff at her old home when she moves into her husband's home! Wow. Well...it means new shoes for Mads!

After the wedding, the bride and groom have some sort of closed-door salt ceremony with the groom's family. Then they head to the reception for one more night of partying! But of course.

Photos (except for my bachelorette and Madonna costume) by Jamie Lihan (watermarked) and Heidi Valencia for Imagine Nation