What I've been cooking lately, part II
This one was actually pretty fun, and came out really well. Typically, when I set out to cook something, I look up a few recipes on the Internet, take an average or best-fit approximation of those recipes with what I have, and then add an extra ingredient or several to my own tastes. Usually the end result ranges from roughly as good as the original to a bit better. Anyway, without further introduction,
Described in general terms, chicken tikka masala is basically just small-cut tandoori chicken that is then mixed in a tomato-cream sauce. Tandoori chicken is delicious enough on its own, so it's a handy recipe to have, in itself. The second half is basically cream of tomato soup that's been spiced... interestingly. So, in so doing, you learn how to make three foods!
This one requires a bit more prep than the last one- I prepared the marinade for the chicken the day before, and let it sit for about a day before cooking.
Chicken:
2-2 1/2 pounds chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks.
1 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1 tablespoon garam masala*
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper**
black pepper to taste, or something. I think I missed this one.
2-3 drops red food coloring
(I misread or ignored various other instructions, and added an finely chopped jalapeno to this part, as well as one to the sauce. This probably contributed to the plain chicken being too spicy, but again, the combined dish was amazing, so if you don't mind the spicy, consider making the same mistake I did)
Basically, mix all the ingredients together in an appropriately-sized container (I used the original yogurt container), add chicken, and let marinate overnight. (Make sure to add the food coloring and mix before the chicken. I made this mistake, and the chicken ended up unevenly red. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID.) If you do everything right, it should look like this. Yum. Appetizing.
Anyway, that's your chicken. Fast-forward to the next day.
Sauce:
1 Tbs chopped garlic
1 Tbs cumin
1 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs butter
1 jalapeño pepper/red chili/other hot pepper, finely sliced and seeded
2 pinches of fennel seed (my personal addition: not enough to overpower the main elements of the curry, but enough to still imbue some of its flavor in the end result)
8 oz Tomato sauce or the equivalent fresh tomatoes (I am told by a co-worker that my cooking is 'weak' because I didn't use fresh tomatoes. You've been warned.)
1 cup heavy cream (I lacked heavy cream, and instead used 1 1/2 cups 1% milk, mixed with 2 Tbs plain yogurt, and also rinsed out the chicken marinade container with a small amount of milk and added the rinse, as a low-fat alternative. It leads to a longer cook time, and you may need to add more spice to the sauce, but it came out well enough)
First, set the marinated chicken to bake at 350 degrees while this is all going on. It will cook for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid cooks out and away, leaving tasty dark-pink marinade residue all over the pan. And, okay, maybe burn onto the pan in some parts, too. But that's how you know it's ready.
While it cooks, melt the butter and sautee the garlic, pepper, cumin, paprika and fennel in a decent-sized saucepan over medium heat. It will look like this, ideally. Now, stir in tomato sauce and dairy product. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the red-brown mixture thickens into something a little thicker than the cream of tomato soup that it basically is right now. This should take about 20 minutes, longer if you use the low-fat alternative that I did. Add the chicken, mix until coated, and viola! You're done!
Serve with rice and/or naan bread and/or a veggie dish. I'm a fan of palak paneer, but don't want to make that tonight, so I'm using the boxed Trader Joe's crap, as a viable alternative.
This is the final product:
*: Garam masala is a good thing to have around. It consists of cumin, coriander, and cardamom most prominently, and frequently cinnamon as well. A quick recipe I found called for rough 4 units coriander: 2 units cumin:1 cardamom: 1 cinnamon and possibly cloves. There's a lot of variety out there, though. In my case, we had a jar of probably-but-not-definitely garam masala that we obtained from a friend. I added extra coriander to be on the safe side.
You can also make chai with it. Possibly.
** In making the chicken for the purposes of this dish, I may have over-done it with the cayanne pepper a bit, on the order of closer to a full tablespoon. However, in the balance, with the sauce, this came out pretty good.
*** This may sound silly, but the red food coloring is vital. If your chicken does not end up looking red, it will taste okay, but not quite right. Red is a crucial element of the flavor.
Described in general terms, chicken tikka masala is basically just small-cut tandoori chicken that is then mixed in a tomato-cream sauce. Tandoori chicken is delicious enough on its own, so it's a handy recipe to have, in itself. The second half is basically cream of tomato soup that's been spiced... interestingly. So, in so doing, you learn how to make three foods!
This one requires a bit more prep than the last one- I prepared the marinade for the chicken the day before, and let it sit for about a day before cooking.
Chicken:
2-2 1/2 pounds chicken breast, cut into bite-sized chunks.
1 cup yogurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1 tablespoon garam masala*
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper**
black pepper to taste, or something. I think I missed this one.
2-3 drops red food coloring
(I misread or ignored various other instructions, and added an finely chopped jalapeno to this part, as well as one to the sauce. This probably contributed to the plain chicken being too spicy, but again, the combined dish was amazing, so if you don't mind the spicy, consider making the same mistake I did)
Basically, mix all the ingredients together in an appropriately-sized container (I used the original yogurt container), add chicken, and let marinate overnight. (Make sure to add the food coloring and mix before the chicken. I made this mistake, and the chicken ended up unevenly red. DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID.) If you do everything right, it should look like this. Yum. Appetizing.
Anyway, that's your chicken. Fast-forward to the next day.
Sauce:
1 Tbs chopped garlic
1 Tbs cumin
1 Tbs paprika
1 Tbs butter
1 jalapeño pepper/red chili/other hot pepper, finely sliced and seeded
2 pinches of fennel seed (my personal addition: not enough to overpower the main elements of the curry, but enough to still imbue some of its flavor in the end result)
8 oz Tomato sauce or the equivalent fresh tomatoes (I am told by a co-worker that my cooking is 'weak' because I didn't use fresh tomatoes. You've been warned.)
1 cup heavy cream (I lacked heavy cream, and instead used 1 1/2 cups 1% milk, mixed with 2 Tbs plain yogurt, and also rinsed out the chicken marinade container with a small amount of milk and added the rinse, as a low-fat alternative. It leads to a longer cook time, and you may need to add more spice to the sauce, but it came out well enough)
First, set the marinated chicken to bake at 350 degrees while this is all going on. It will cook for about 10 minutes, or until the liquid cooks out and away, leaving tasty dark-pink marinade residue all over the pan. And, okay, maybe burn onto the pan in some parts, too. But that's how you know it's ready.
While it cooks, melt the butter and sautee the garlic, pepper, cumin, paprika and fennel in a decent-sized saucepan over medium heat. It will look like this, ideally. Now, stir in tomato sauce and dairy product. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the red-brown mixture thickens into something a little thicker than the cream of tomato soup that it basically is right now. This should take about 20 minutes, longer if you use the low-fat alternative that I did. Add the chicken, mix until coated, and viola! You're done!
Serve with rice and/or naan bread and/or a veggie dish. I'm a fan of palak paneer, but don't want to make that tonight, so I'm using the boxed Trader Joe's crap, as a viable alternative.
This is the final product:
*: Garam masala is a good thing to have around. It consists of cumin, coriander, and cardamom most prominently, and frequently cinnamon as well. A quick recipe I found called for rough 4 units coriander: 2 units cumin:1 cardamom: 1 cinnamon and possibly cloves. There's a lot of variety out there, though. In my case, we had a jar of probably-but-not-definitely garam masala that we obtained from a friend. I added extra coriander to be on the safe side.
You can also make chai with it. Possibly.
** In making the chicken for the purposes of this dish, I may have over-done it with the cayanne pepper a bit, on the order of closer to a full tablespoon. However, in the balance, with the sauce, this came out pretty good.
*** This may sound silly, but the red food coloring is vital. If your chicken does not end up looking red, it will taste okay, but not quite right. Red is a crucial element of the flavor.