Off the Map

Continue my journey on Indian food again with chicken tikka masala, which is one of the top 3 mentioned dishes mentioned most by my friends. When I searched for chicken tikka masala recipe, butter chicken’s recipe also popped up. I was confused and asked my friends what is the differences, here is what I got:

• Both are authentic north Indian dishes, not Americanized Indian food
• Chicken Tikka Masala is tangier and spicier
• Butter Chicken is sweet and creamier

After watching more than 5 YouTube videos on Chicken Tikka Masala, I decided to follow Tasty’s video for ingredients and Get Curried’s video for cooking process ( both attached below). Get Curried’s video is for butter chicken, but I still followed his instruction on cooking process because of three reasons:

• he uses sliced tomato instead of tomato puree as Tasty’s as well as many other recipes. I personally like fresh tomato’s sweetness over the sourness of tomato puree in can.
• he also uses cashew, which seems to be used in more “authentic” non-English YouTube videos… (Purely my biased judgement 🙂 )
• he sieves the blended sauce, which is again, rarely seen in other videos. Sieving through gave a smoother taste.
• Overall, his video seems to yield a finely made dish.

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TAKEAWAYS

• do not over cook chicken when pan-fry the first time, even it does not get browned because too much sauce/yogurt, get chicken out around 5mins
• soften onion will take around 10-15mins, but it’s very important to bring out the flavor and sweetness!
• addition of cream will decrease spiciness, bring smoother masala

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RECIPE

Marinate chicken thighs over night:

• Portion: 4 chicken thighs for 3-4 people
• 6 cloves of garlic paste
• 1 tbsp ginger paste
• 1 lemon juice
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 2 tsp paprika
• 125g plain yogurt (this time I used 195g/ 1 cup)

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Cooking Chicken & Puree:

• heat pan at medium-high, add oil in pan
• + chicken, flip till both sides turn brown (~3mins each side, shorter for smaller pieces)
• + 2 tbsp butter, + 1 finely chopped onion, stir fry till soft or slightly brown

• + 2 – 3 roughly chopped tomato, + 50g cashew

• + 8 cloves garlic paste, 2 tbsp ginger paste, stir to bring out flavor but do not burn
• spice time!
  • 2 tsp cumin powder
  • 2 tsp turmeric powder
  • 2 tsp coriander powder
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp garam masala

• simmer for 15-20 mins, add water or left over “juice”/ yogurt from chicken

• blend the above till smooth

• sieve through and back on pan (left over is tomato seeds and skin)

• + 250g cream (better to add in when cooler so it does not curl up)

• add back the chicken in the pan, stir
• taste and if needed:
  • + 1 tsp salt –> enough salt for me this time, so did not add
  • + 1 tsp brown sugar if too spicy or sour
• simmer for 5-8 mins
• + cilantro

• plating time!!

READY TO SERVE!

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Resources

Recipe for ingredients from Tasty

Recipe for cooking process with whole tomato –> slice and blend, rather than tomato puree, from Get Curried