#161 Chicken Tikka Masala

"Chicken tikka masala is a dish of roasted chunks of chicken (chicken tikka) in a spicy sauce. The sauce is usually creamy, spiced and orange-coloured."

I enjoyed making this dish. It turned out great! I needed to be a little careful handling the kitchen, I used disposable gloves  since I had to thread it onto the skewers before broiling it in the oven. I was too lazy to fire up the grill! Well actually, I didn't want to grill the chicken, I do not enjoy working with the grill, too much smoke gets into my eyes and heat on my face all the time..and so I decided to turn to the oven. I can get very creative in order to make things happen, as you can see in the photos below, I used a glass baking dish to hold the skewers and catch the juice.  Suddenly the dreadful task of grilling became easy, thanks to the oven! When you start making this dish, you will need a lot of patience, just know that in the end, you will have an out-of-this-world yummy dish! I was easy on the cayenne and the fresh jalapeño peppers, but that's just because I am not a fan of too much heat in my food anymore. You can add more if you want firecrackers in your mouth with every bite, I'm pretty sure it will be spectacular.

Here are a few fun facts I found on the internet about this delicious dish, with links provided to the source:

In 2001, British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook declared that "Chicken Tikka Masala is now a true British national dish, not only because it is the most popular, but because it is a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences." He went on to explain that "Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish. The Masala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of British people to have their meat served in gravy."

The claim that Chicken Tikka Masala is a British "National dish," however met with both acclamation and skeptical opposition.

A 2012 survey of 2,000 people in the United Kingdom claimed that it is that country's second most popular foreign dish to cook, after Chinese stir fry.

Source HERE 

Ready to make your own?   

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA 

Ingredients 

Marinade:

• 1 cup organic yogurt (Greek)

• 1 tablespoons lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 2 teaspoons ground pepper

• 1 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

• 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 1/8 cayenne pepper

• 3 boneless organic chicken breasts

• bamboo skewers

Sauce:

• 1 block of organic butter

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (I used 1/4)

• 2 teaspoons cumin

• 2 teaspoons paprika

• 1 can tomato sauce

• 1 cup heavy cream

• salt to taste

Garnish:

• fresh cilantro, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large glass bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients, and the chicken, mix thoroughly. Cover and store in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Thread chicken onto skewers
3. Broil chicken in the oven, or grill--oil the grate to make sure the chicken does not stick onto it. I broiled it around 5 minutes, or until you achieve that "grilled or broiled look--see pic above". 
4. Once chicken is cool, remove the chicken from skewers.
5. In a large skillet, melt butter over medium low heat,  add garlic until brown and jalapeño.
6. Add the rest of the ingredients, simmer on low heat.
7. Add the grilled chicken and simmer for another 10 minutes.
8. Check salt and heat, add more according to your taste. 
9. Enjoy!

  

That was lovely, so much fun learning to cook a new favorite! (^.^)