Chicken Tikka Masala, oh MY.

It happened again.  Curry night.  And I’m already promising the people coming the last week of May on a Sunday afternoon that I will make it then as well.  Because no matter what I do, I want curry about….3 days after the last time I had curry.  Even though I said the day after that picture was taken that I was sort of over the curry (from washing all the dishes probably), now that it’s late on Sunday night and I’m looking at these pictures…? All bets are off.  I want more curry.  (This would be no problem were we still living in the UK where take-away Indian restaurants are on every corner, even in our small village –> two corners = two take-aways!)  Next time I think it will be a Jalfrezi….and of course, this Chicken Tikka Masala again, perhaps a bit less spicy and more sweet (since the Jalfrezi will surely be hot!hot!hot!)

Greer says this should be scrumptuous!!

I have still been working on the barefoot running, usually 3-4 miles at a time, but I’ve gotten something in one of my feet two of the last three times and have decided to begin working up to some sort of minimalist shoe while maintaining truly barefoot the majority of the time so that I can go longer distances.  This week, after a 3 mile rather-quick run on the sidewalk, I decided to call the chiropractor about a possible stress fracture.  I’ll do a whole post about it next week when I get the chance, but, suffice it to say, I’ll be off of it for a while for now to see how it goes.  I don’t feel any pain when walking around the house barefoot or running barefoot, but when I touch a certain place on the top side of my foot, where there is a bit of swelling as well, I have quite a bit of pain.  It has been hurting off and on for a few weeks, actually, but never when running (especially since transitioning to barefoot – after which point my feet have seldom hurt, except when I step on something!);  usually I notice the pain, and particularly the swelling, after a day in boots (like last Sunday after going to church and then standing in the kitchen a lot) or while walking around in flip-flops where the shoe crosses right over the sore area.  The chiropractor examined me and believes it probably is a Tarsal Navicular Stress Fracture, even though the x-rays did not show anything (usually this is hard to spot and requires a bone scan.)  Either way, she recommended at least two weeks off running, so I’ve headed back to the bike – just 45 minutes on Friday.  I started this blog post Tuesday night, so apparently things have been pretty busy – I have no idea where the week went!! We had a lovely dinner with new friends from church Friday night then went shooting on the property of some other people from church on Saturday, finishing off the night with a bit of bagpiping.  At some point I made enchiladas for today’s Sunday lunch, finishing them up last night by baking them up in a green chili sauce.  More on that later in the week…still so many recipes to post before I’m all caught up!!

Onward. To the Chicken Tikka Masala, so I can go to bed dreaming of curry….

ready to make the yogurt dip for the chicken tikka (traditionally skewered and then cooked in a tandoori oven)

bunches of onions ready for the three curries I was making at once

Here’s a link to the recipe I used:  Chicken Tikka Masala

…and here it is with my changes:

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA

CHICKEN

2 lbs chicken – breasts/thighs mixed, cut up into about 3-inch square pieces

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp table salt1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
2 tbsp oil
6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 tbsp minced ginger (from a jar – you could use freshly minced as well)

For the chicken: Combine cumin, coriander, cayenne, and salt in small bowl. For LESS spicy chicken: Sprinkle both sides of chicken with spice mixture, pressing gently so mixture adheres. I MADE MINE MORE SPICY by placing the chicken into a bowl of the spices and then flipping it, making sure both sides were coated (This may require making up more of the spice mixture.)  Place chicken on plate, cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate 30 to 60 minutes. In large bowl, whisk together yogurt, oil, garlic, ginger.  Set aside.  Move on to the sauce —

MASALA SAUCE
3 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, diced fine (about 1-1/4 cups)
6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press
2 tsp minced ginger (or grated fresh ginger)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp garam masala (I used a substitute here which I will mention at the end.  You can sometimes buy this as a blend in certain stores – otherwise, concoct it from any number of internet recipes for g.m.)
1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp table salt
2/3 cup almond milk (The recipe called for heavy cream, but this worked.)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves, slivered almonds to garnish

For the sauce: Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, tomato paste, and garam masala; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, salt; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cream/milk and return to simmer. Remove pan from heat and cover to keep warm.While sauce simmers, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position (about 6 inches from heating element) and heat broiler. Using tongs, dip chicken into yogurt mixture (chicken should be coated with thick layer of yogurt) and arrange on wire rack set in foil-lined rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan. Discard excess yogurt mixture. Broil chicken until thickest parts register 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer and exterior is lightly charred in spots, 10 to 18 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.Let chicken rest 5 minutes, then cut into 1-inch chunks and stir into warm sauce (do not simmer chicken in sauce).  Adjust seasoning with salt, and serve with rice, and, of course, homemade naan! Serves 4 to 6.

chicken once it’s been “spiced” and the mixed up yogurt stuff

the chicken dipped in yogurt mixture about to cook it

the cooked chicken, ready to go into the sauce after I cut it into chunks

Masala sauce right before adding the chicken

Having no garam masala on hand, I substituted an equal amount of this chai spice mixture  I made last month and had to add 1 tsp cumin and 1/2 tsp coriander to make it a bit more equal to the g.m.

Ingredients

• 4 tsp ground cardamom
• 4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground all spice
• 2 tsp ground ginger