Chicken Tikka Masala

With Elizabeth and Melissa here, we decided to cook Indian with one of our favorite recipes, but it came out a little spicier tonight than usual. We don't mind spice too much, but it's one thing Melissa doesn't do. We ended up bringing bread and butter to the table to help cool down the spice a little.

This recipe is one we have done several times in the past, by marinating the chicken breast pieces overnight in a marinade made from an onion, garlic, fresh ginger, cayenne pepper, garam masala, plain yogurt and fresh cilantro stems all processed in a food processor.

Tonight, a red onion, fresh garlic, and fresh ginger went into the food processor to be pureed. Next, some canola oil went into a large skillet along with a cinnamon stick and cooked for a minute until the cinnamon stick unfurled. The pureed onion mixture was added along with some salt and cooked until golden brown, about 20 minutes. The spices came next with some ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne pepper added to the pan and cooked briefly. A can of crushed tomatoes was added and the sauce was simmered for about 10 minutes. A little heavy cream was stirred in and just brought to the simmer.

Meanwhile the chicken came out of the marinade, put on a rack on a baking sheet, covered with foil and popped in a 350 oven for 15-20 minutes. The cooked chicken joined the sauce and allowed to mingle for 5 minutes.

This mixture went over Cumin-scent rice pilaf.

Our vegetable tonight was stir-fried green beans with cumin. The green beans were blanched, rinsed and set aside. A stir fry pan was heated up and when hot in went some canola oil and cumin seeds for a minute. Some grated ginger was added and stirred for another minute. Finally the blanched green beans went back in and were coated with the oil and spices, before having the heat turned down, and allowing to cook, covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Delicious but quite spicy!