Chicken Tikka Masala - Homemade!

I took my first foray yesterday into making my own Indian cuisine from scratch.  I had picked up some spices from a vendor at a farmer’s market last weekend and wanted to put them to use, plus I love Tikka Masala.  I looked for some recipes and basically took several and distilled my own version.  Here’s what I came up with.

Generally, in Chicken Tikka Masala, you use chicken that’s been cut into cubes or bite-sized pieces already, but I had legs and thighs in the freezer that I wanted to use, and used them whole.

You start out with marinating your chicken (or whatever protein you prefer) in a yogurt marinade.  I thawed my chicken legs and thighs and then pulled the skin off (it works much better without the skin) and put the skin aside to do something else with (I’ll tell you about that later.)

Mix up your marinade with the following recipe:

1 cup plain yogurt
Juice of one fresh lemon
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground corriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tblsp minced fresh ginger
2 tsp salt (to taste – you can use none at all too)

Mix it all together, then toss in your chicken.  You need to get your hands dirty here by massaging the chicken into the marinade.  Cover and put in the fridge for a couple of hours (or overnight if you like).

Before pulling the chicken from out of the fridge, turn the oven on to about 350 degrees to preheat.  When ready, pull the chicken out of the fridge, then out of the marinade and arrange on a baking sheet.  Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes (gauge it by how you initially prepared the chicken – if you cut into small pieces, may need less time).

While the chicken is baking, you can start making the sauce.  In a large pan, sauté the following:

2 tblsp unsalted butter (olive oil can be used in its place or in conjunction with butter)
1 small to medium onion – diced to your preference (I like it almost minced)
2-3 cloves of garlic minced (more if you like garlic – I do!)

After you’ve “sweat” the onions and garlic for a few minutes toss in the following spices:

2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp paprika (Hungarian or smoked – whichever you prefer)
1 tsp black pepper
2-3 tsp garam masala spice (found in the international section usually or at farmer’s markets or an Indian market)
2 tsp salt (or leave it out)

Mix it all together, but don’t let it burn.  Then stir in:

1 – 32 oz can of crush tomatoes (or puree if you want a very smooth texture)
1 – 12 oz can of tomato sauce
1 – 12 oz can of coconut milk

You can also at this point throw in a few tablespoons of the marinade that’s left over if you like, just make sure you cook the sauce well.  Bring to a simmer.  Let the flavors meld over really low heat, stirring occasionally while the chicken cooks. 

Once the chicken is done, pull it out of the oven.  Toss is into the sauce and mix together.  Alternately, as I did, throw the chicken in a crock pot, pour the sauce over it and cook it on low for a few hours.  It allows the chicken to absorb more of the flavor.

When plating up, serve over rice, preferable basmati (brown rice works too for those being more health conscious). 

It turned out delicious, and spicy.  You can tone down the spices to your liking, but I enjoy the heat!