Chicken Tikka Masala

Tikka Sauce
1 medium
2 cloves
2 t
1
1 T
1 T
​
1 28-oz can
2 t
½ t
​
⅔ cup

​Chicken
½ t
½ t
¼ t
1 t
​2 lbs

1 cup
2 T
2 cloves
​1 T

¼ cup

​onion, diced fine
garlic
ginger
serrano chile (optional)
tomato paste
garam masala (see note)
​
crushed tomatoes (see note)
sugar
salt
​
heavy cream or canned coconut milk

​​ground cumin
ground coriander
cayenne (optional)
salt
boneless chicken breasts or chicken tenders/tenderloins

plane whole-milk yogurt
oil
garlic
​ginger

​cilantro

Tikka Sauce

• Saute onion until light golden brown (10 minutes)
• ​Add remaining 1st set and stir frequently until fragrant (3 minutes)
• ​Add 2nd set and simmer covered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally
• ​Stir in cream and remove from heat
• Adjust flavors with more salt and/or more garam masala.  I typically add another 1/2 T garam masala at this point to amp up the flavors.

Chicken

• Mix dry ingredients in 1st set, toss with chicken, rest for 1 hour or as much as two days.
• Mix 2nd set and set aside
• Dredge chicken in yogurt mixture and grill (sometimes I'll let the chicken marinate in they ogurt mixture for a few hours).  Remove at 160 degrees and let rest for at least 5 minutes
• Chop chicken into 1" chunks and mix with sauce and cilantro


• Note:  I typically make a 5x batch of the sauce (fills a 6 quart pot), and use 2/3 of it with 10 lbs chicken or all of it with 14 to 16 lbs chicken (extra sauce freezes well). When I do this, I only use 4 cans of crushed tomatoes and a 4x quantity of cream since I like stronger flavors in the end product.  If you multiply the recipe like this you'll need to cook things quite a bit longer at each step.  Maybe 20 minutes for the onions and 30 to 45 minutes for the sauce (3rd step).
• Note on garam masala:  I use recipe in 660 Curries with some modifications.  I'll post that later.  Cook's Illustrated likes McCormick Gourmet and Penzeys Punjabi.
• Note on meat:  You can make this with leg of lamb as well.  Cut meat into 1-inch cubes, mix with spices, and rest as above.  Sear lamb and set aside. Make the sauce but skip the simmer and don't add the cream and extra garam masala yet. Add the lamb and cook for 45 minutes to 2 hours until lamb is fork tender.  Add cream and garam masala at the end.
• Yield: 4 to 6 as a main dish
• Source: Modified from Cook's Illustrated

Category:  Indian                                                                                                                                                          Modified 12/18/22