1st Post:: Chicken Tikka Masala

Perhaps I should begin with an introduction. My name is Celesté and I'm an English teacher. I am from South Jersey, but currently reside and teach in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After living in China and teaching during the 08-09 school year, I moved back to the states and wound up (somehow) back in OK (I'd gone to university here). Shortly after moving back to the US, I found myself craving the kind of food I was used to eating inQingHuangDao, where I had gorged myself on street food, such as jaozi, fresh fried rice, and fried mantou. These cravings led me to figure out if I could recreate, or perhaps create at all, food that I and those around me could enjoy. I started out with very simple dishes the fall of '09 and now a year and a half later feel very comfortable in my little, cute kitchen.

I hope to give little anecdotes and revelations along the way, but don't want to make this into necessarily a journal--just my novice experiences with food, utensils, and spices.

Thus, I shall jump right into my first entry: Chicken Tikka Masala.

Since this is one of my favorite Indian dishes, I figured I needed to learn how to satisfy the craving on my own without trying to convince my boyfriend that we needed to order take-out from an OK Indo-Asian spot in town. After scouring the internet for recipes, I settled on this one that I found on foodgawker.com. I made some alterations after viewing this guy on youtube (he's actually pretty hilarious if you can make it all the way through).

I marinated the chicken overnight (I bought on sale thin cut breast pieces from Walmart and cut into one inch pieces)

To make the Marinade:

• 1 cup plain yogurt (I bought two 6 oz containers of Greek yogurt because their packaging was so cute and because I used a bit more chicken than called for)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice, from 1 lemon (I probably used almost 2 TBSP)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin(maybe a bit more, I am on a real cumin kick these days)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (used chili powder)
• 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger (had to use ground ginger)
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (as I said before, I used a bit more)

After cutting the chicken to the desired size, I just whisked all the above ingredients and then added the chicken. I covered it with tin foil and placed in the fridge. (I then proceeded to make Chicken with Raspberry Balsamic Reduction sauce and Garlic Roasted Golden Potatoes for dinner that night, since the Chicken Tikka wouldn't be ready until the next night).

The next evening, after a long day of classes and a side tutoring session, I picked up some Naan on the way home. After being unsuccessful in my search for skewers (I'm sure I stared right at them and just didn't see them), I decided to bake the chicken on a thin disposable cookie sheet (I didn't want to dirty my nice one that my mom bought me on her visit last year). I baked the pieces at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. I was so surprised and delighted that the yogurt had really thickened around each piece and started to form a nice crust on the chicken, similar to what the traditional grilling may have done.

While the chicken was baking, I started making the sauce.

To make the Sauce/Gravy:

• 1 tablespoon butter (used 2TBSP)
• 1/2 - 1 whole white onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons paprika (I ended up using Tumeric instead because my little paprika shaker was hiding in the bottom of my pantry)
• 1 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon garam masala (used 2tsp)
• 3 pods cardamom
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (14.5 ounce) tin chopped tomato
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• (any alterations, I put in italics)

First, put 2 tbsp of unsalted butter into a large, deep skillet on Med/High. As it begins to melt add the onions. Let those soften about 5 minutes. Next, add the garlic and 1/2 jalepeno. Once all three of those are soft, but not really browning yet, begin to add all of your spices: cumin, tumeric (paprika), salt, garam masala, and cardamom. Mix them into the butter/veg mixture, a paste-like consistency should be achieved (These are similar steps to take when making Indian curries as well I have found). Add the tomato sauce and tin of tomatoes as well. Bring the mixture to a boil and then lower the temperature to a simmer. Continue to simmer the mixture as it will bring out more flavors. Once the chicken is done (either from the grill or oven), add them to the sauce/gravy. (Before adding the chicken, I was a little nervous, I wasn't sure that the sauce had the distinguishable flavors I had been used to from Tikka Masala; however, after adding the chicken with its yogurt crust all this changed).

Allow the chicken to simmer in this sauce for at least fifteen minutes. Then add the cream to your desired taste. I used a little less than the cup called for.

Then plate your chicken with plenty of gravy for the rice (I made long grain (out of basmati) in the rice cooker with 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil + 1tsp cumin + torn cilantro) and naan (Don't forget to add torn cilantro on top).

Hope you enjoy trying this surprisingly simple recipe that is jam-packed with flavor :)