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It’s been a heck of a busy week for me, so forgive me for ending the week of curry with a re-post from April 2009. On the bright side, Chicken Tikka Masala is my all-time favorite curry to make at home. I hope you give it a try and enjoy it half as much as I do.
You know, for such punch-packing flavorful food, Indian is not much fun to look at or photograph. It’s all brown and earth-toned. It’s redeeming grace is that it makes the kitchen smell fantastic, but as you can’t smell through a monitor, you’ll have to forgive the food its unphotogenic nature.
This Chicken Tikka Masala recipe is one I’ve made several times to much applause, found over at Posy Gets Cozy. She links to this recipe on All Recipes, but please, please, please only use 1 teaspoon of salt in the marinade and one in the sauce. Please. As long as you pay attention to the salt, it’s incredibly easy and always delicious.
However, I wanted to replicate the experience of going out for Indian, when we usually order several things and split them, often one meat and one veggie. So we decided to also make Tadka Dal, which you can find at any and all Indian restaurants worth their salt. (Pun intended. A great thing about cooking these dishes at home is the ability to control the main flaws of some Indian restaurants: grease and salt. Have I mentioned watching the salt? Yes, you should.)
The kick in the pants for the masala is that it’s marinated in a mixture of yogurt, lemon juice, ginger and spice in the fridge. The recipe calls for an hour, though I usually give it more time if I’m able. Then it’s out to the grill, where the husband took the reigns and I headed to dal.
Remember that ghee? The recipe calls for 1/2 cup total, divided. I’m going to halve that, because I’ve done all I can to suppress the low-fat/healthy brain and tonight she’s winning. So we’ll use 1/4 cup total, half of which — or 2 tablespoons — we start with here. Add sliced onions and begin to caramelize over medium heat. Don’t rush it! Good caramelized onions take time and a deep brown (though not black) color is to be expected. The onions are what add a rich flavor to the vegetarian dish. These are almost done after about 20 minutes.
Enter the spice and the wonderful fragrance when you add a garlic and ginger puree and all your spices. A note on Indian spices: Don’t try to buy them at the grocery store, where they’re incredibly expensive. Try out our local Indian Market for better deals any day. That’s also a great place to find the recipe’s massoor dal (red lentils), which can be difficult to locate. In fact, this night I went ahead with green, and while red would have been better, they were still very tasty.
1 1/2 cup lentils and four cups water, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered. The lentils will be soft at about the 30-minute mark, but don’t be afraid to cook them longer, if necessary. The masala will wait.
Speaking of which.
Start this after you have your lentils simmering. I love that soft orange, slightly pink color of masala. I salivate as I type. The sauce consists of sauteed garlic and minced jalapeno, to which you add cumin, paprika, salt, tomato sauce and heavy cream, simmer over medium-low for 20 minutes. At that point I add the chicken the husband was grilling up — tell him not to overcook it! — slid off the skewers.
You’re in the home stretch. Only the dal garnish is left, but don’t forget it. This adds the necessary crunch and freshness to the super soft lentils.
Toasted mustard and cumin seeds with two jalapenos, although again, this is a substitute for the Thai green chilies I didn’t have immediate access to. As the masala includes jalapenos, too, it should all tie together anyway. Toast for about two minutes. Also, chop the fresh cilantro garnish for the masala.
Guess what? Authentic Indian accomplished. (Well, relatively authentic, at least.) I think I got the husband a little too excited about this whole double-meal authentic thing. Now he wants naan bread. Sigh.
(What’s that lentil doing in my rice, screwing up my picture? Stupid lentil.)
