Chicken Tikka Masala

I love chicken tikka masala. LOVE IT. When I lived in Cambridge MA, there was this small Indian place right around the corner, and I would always order their tikka masala (and pakoras and samosas and nann and saag). We found a recipe in an old Cook's Illustrated, so we decided to go for it. And let me tell you, not only is it super wonderful tasting, it is surprisingly easy to make. So go make some. And then send me some.

I have to say, at first, I was a little skeptical of making this. I've seen other people make Indian food, and the time and process can be a little daunting. Well, it did take us about 2 hours to make this whole meal (including cooking naan and saag), but now that we've done it once, I think we could make the tikka masala in about an hour from start to finish (and we have some naan in the freezer, so we can just reheat that). However, we did use pretty much dish we owned. It would have been nice to have a dishwasher.

First the chicken. We rubbed the chicken breasts with cumin, coriander, and cayenne. Then we mixed up some yogurt with fresh ginger and garlic, dipped the chicken in , and cooked under the broiler until done. The yogurt mix gave great flavor and seemed to keep a lot of the moisture in, while allowing the chicken to char nicely on the outside, just like it was out of a tandoori oven (which, unfortunately, we don't own one of).

As for the sauce, it couldn't have been easier. Just make tomato pasta sauce, but instead of using garlic, basil, oregano, and thyme, use onions, garlic, fresh ginger, and garam masala. Simmer for 15-20 minutes, then add heavy cream. A handful of chopped cilantro provided the finishing touch. Done and done.

Once the chicken was allowed to sit for a couple minutes, we cut into chunks, dropped into the sauce for a quick minute, and proceeded to devour. It was so good. The chicken had the tandoori oven texture - charred in places, kind of dry, kind of hard, but still moist - and the sauce had the perfect creamy-tomato taste.


Notes and Next Time

• I will make this again. Maybe tonight. It was good.
• We used 2# of chicken, which was a ridiculous amount. But with the amount of sauce from one big can of crushed tomatoes and 2/3 c of heavy cream, it was the right amount. We have enough leftovers for today and tomorrow. I guess I don't have to make more tonight after all.
• When we cut the chicken, we make the chunks too big. Next time, slightly smaller.
• It would be interesting to use just the yogurt mix with some bone-in chicken, to see if you could replicate the tandoori oven without the sauce. Might be a fun adventure.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• 2 # chicken, boneless, skinless
• 1 c yogurt
• dry spices: coriander, cumin, cayenne, garam masala
  
• fresh spices/herbs: ginger, garlic, cilantro
• 1medium onion, chopped
• 1 large can crushed tomatoes
• 1 T tomato paste
• a chili pepper (for heat, but can be left out)
  
• 2/3 c heavy cream
• salt
• sugar
• vegetable oil
  

Tomato Sauce

Tomato sauce was the first thing I ever cooked once I moved out on my own. When I asked my mom how she makes hers, she said that you just cook the tomatoes until they were done. While this is great advice, it's not very helpful, especially when looking for ingredients, ratios, etc. Over time, I picked up some tips from my mom and Grandma, and can consistently cook a pretty good sauce.

In my opinion, the beast sauces start with pork. Sometimes I use a cheap cut, like a pork shoulder, that will be tender and soft after a long simmer (you can't really use something like this if you're trying to make a quick sauce). You can also use any other kind of meat, or veggies, or no 'meat' at all.

I started by browning the meat - in this case, hot Italian sausage - in a little evoo. I used our Les Crueset, which is heavy-bottomed and cast iron, and allows for even, consistent heat. After they browned nicely on all sides, I took them out of the pan and let them rest a little; at this point, they were not cooked all the way through.

In the same pan, I then threw in a bunch of chopped garlic with a little more evoo. I like to cook my spices a little too, so I threw in the oregano, thyme, basil and red pepper for a little bit. Before the garlic or spices got too brown/toasted, I added the tomatoes. I really like the crushed tomatoes, since they don't have many chunks and the juice isn't too thin. I also cleaned out the cans with a little water, which killed three birds (cleaning cans, getting small amount of tomato still in can out, and adding water) with one stone.

[When I was little, I always like my Aunt Nina's sauce more than my mom's or Grandmother's, because it was thicker. So when I started making my own sauce, I was intent on not adding water to thin it out. However, over time, I have come to realize that a little water is needed and the sauce will still thicken up as the water evaporates over the long cooking time.]

Once everything is in, I added the s&p and bay leaves and bring the whole pot up to a boil. Once it boils, I turned down the heat to simmer the sauce and added the sausages back in. I usually allow the sauce to simmer anywhere from 1 to 3 hours, depending on how much tomato is used. You will 'know when it's done' from 2 things: 1) the evoo will look cooked and will come to the top and 2) it will taste good.

I make 2 or 3 cans of sauce at a time, which is good for anywhere between 3 and 6 meals. The sauce freezes easily in ziploc bags and keeps for some time.

I used 2 cans of tomatoes for this iteration. We used the sauce for our gnocchi, but have enough for 2 bags in the freezer.

Notes and Next Time

• Taste is most important in determining if the sauce is done. You'll know if it's still raw simply by taste.
• We've been using the hand blender to blend up the sauce occassionally; that's a great technique and makes the sauce taste/feel lighter.
  

Ingredients/Recipe

• Canned tomatoes (I prefer the crushed tomatoes)
• Spices (thyme, oregano, basil, bay leaves, crushed red pepper)
  
• s&p
  
• evoo
  
  

Skillet Chicken and Sauce

A while ago, PEter signed us up to be testers for America's Test Kitchen (publishers of Cook's Illustrated, our absolutely favorite cooking magazine). We've gotten recipes for a few weeks now, but life has either gotten in the way or the recipe just didn't sound exciting. Not so this week. Their recipe (which we are not supposed to cut and paste for you so we'll provide our "improvements") was for a skillet cooked chicken with a vermouth-dijon sauce. This sounded like something we'd actually eat and we added the ingredients to our grocery list today.

The recipe involves cooked chicken parts (with skin and bone) on the stove top and then making a sauce to serve on the side.

First you rinse and pat fry your chicken parts (Peter cut up our whole chicken because he's cool like that). Heat oil (a couple Tbsp) in skillet and add parts skin side down. Cook until browned WITHOUT TOUCHING. We suck at this part. Flip, add 1/4 cup H2O and cover until cooked (155 for white, 170 for dark). Once each piece is done, pull it to a plate. Once all the pieces are cooked, drain your pan completely of all H2O and oil (don't wipe the pan). Add the parts back and crank the heat so that the skin recrisps. Cook them until crispy (another 3 minutes or so). Then, pull them and tent with foil.

Now it's time fo the pan sauce. We could barely restrain ourselves, this sauce tasted so good. So even if you don't want to make the chicken, you REALLY need to make this sauce. So, drain your pan again, and add the shallot (1 shallot minced). Cook until shallot is nice and wilty. Then, add the broth, (1/2-3/4 cup), vermouth (use dry or extra dry, 1/2 cup or so), dijon mustard (a Tbsp) and cook at high until it reduces by at least half. Once the sauce has thickened, remove from heat, stir in the drippings from the chicken, stir in 2 Tbsp butter and a few Tbsp chopped parsley.

Serve chicken with sauce poured around it (if you pour the sauce over the chicken, you'll make the skin soggy again).

We served this with rice pilaf and broiled broccoli.

If you do nothing else- MAKE THE SAUCE!!! YUMMMMMMMM


Notes and Next Time

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Ingredients/Recipe

• whole chicken cut up or chicken parts (with bones and skin)
• veg oil
• S & P
• dijon mustard
• vermouth
• chicken broth
• parsley, chopped
• shallot, minced
• butter