Chicken Tikka Masala

So, yesterday I ventured into the domain of the subcontinent of India with this dish - Chicken Tikka Masala. As weird as the title sounds, the dish actually gained its Indian flare more from the spices than anything else. The actual dish does not come traditionally from India, but instead from a London Curry House (www.americastestkitchen.com). The base of the dish is tomato, which isn't foreign to us and I used onion, garlic, ginger and a chile pepper for some heat. None of that is out of our pallette "comfort zone" if we have had any chinese or mexican dishes in our past. The true flavor of this dish came from the spice combination known as "Garam Masala", which is a combination of Coriander, Black Pepper, Cumin, Cardamom and Cinnamon and from Cayenne Pepper. This sweet set of spices (and heat from Cayenne), when mixed together, provide a wonderful aromatic array of tastes and smells that gave us the true Indian essence in this dish. My wife smelled it and immediately thought of Pumpkin Pie, though I assure everyone there is no Nutmeg in this spice mix. You can pick this spice up at the local supermarket under the McCormick "Gormet Collection Blends".

As you can see above, there are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. The picture of the kitchen is my kitchen - I wanted everyone to see that I have a normal kitchen...no professional stoves, ovens, gadgets, gizmoes, etc. Just your normal, run-of-the-mill kitchen with a standard 4-burner stove, standard oven, less than ample counter space and dog supplies (of course).

The other pictures are of the different stages of the prep and cooking process for this dish. Though I am not going to give the entire recipe and how to cook it, as this blog would be about 17 pages long, I will give you some hints on what I learned as I prepared this dish. If you would like to know how to cook this dish, go to http://www.americastestkitchen.com and register (it's free). Then search for the Chicken Tikka Masala recipe.

First, when you are shopping for ingredients to make this dish, make sure you pick-up nice sized chicken breasts. Don't pick up the package of breasts that have been sliced into chicken fingers, because that won't work. You need a nice thick breast in order to withstand the heat of the broiler without drying out.

Second, yogurt (as funny as that sounds) is a key ingredient to this dish as well. I try to keep my dishes as healthy as possible, so I bought low-fat Vanilla yogurt (store brand is fine). The yogurt is actually a substitute for cream in one part of the dish and is also a barrier from heat on the chicken later. This was a really cool trick that worked like a charm. Do not buy fat-free, yogurt, as it will not work. Choose from regular or low-fat vanilla.

Finally, I hate cooking rice the "old fashioned way" because it takes a long time. Also, when you are making a dish for 2 people, buying a 2 lb. bag of Basmati Rice is a waste of money because unless you eat Indian cuisine (or rice for that matter) very often, that rice is just going to sit for all eternity in your cabinets. Instead, I used Uncle Ben's 90-second Basmati rice in the pouches...two pouches was enough rice for my wife and me and it was ready in about 2 1/2 minutes.

Once you get everything home and you are ready to cook, try to prep as many of your ingredients for use in advance as possible. Running around measuring everything out as you are trying to cook can become a bit hectic and can make you feel rushed when trying to enjoy the cooking experience and preparing a nice dish. So, mince your onion, garlic and ginger as part of your prep, measure out your spices into little bowls ahead of time and puree your whole tomatoes in the food processor, so when it comes time to use these ingredients, all you have to do is throw them in the pan. This is true for any dish that uses multiple ingredients.

**Hint** If you are not handy with a knife for cutting up onions or other veggies, use a food processor on the "Chop" setting. For mincing, use the pulse feature to get your veggies cut nice and small.

Once you have prepped all your ingredients, take out your chicken breasts and trim off any excess fat. Usually breasts have a little fat around the edges, so a quick trim will take care of that. Then, pat your chicken dry with paper towels (I usually just roll the chicken up in a paper towel and press on it for 15 seconds or so, that usually does the trick. Then, sprinkle on the ingredients as stated in the recipe evenly and then press the spices into the chicken (literally take your hand and press with the palm of your hand all of the chicken to get the spices imbedded - you don't have to press hard). Make sure to spice both sides of the chicken. Then, put the chicken on a plate, cover in plastic wrap and throw it in the fridge. 45-minutes should do the trick and that will give you some time to prepare the other parts of the dish.

^Tip^ Allowing the spices to set in on a piece of meat is important for a few reasons. One, it allows the flavors to permeate the meat (fish, chicken, etc.) and when using salt, it actually helps keep the meat moist. When salt is put on meat, it initially extracts moisture, but as it is left on, it returns moisture to the meat, allowing it to stay juicy when cooking.

The masala sauce was really hearty and aromatic. After the sauce was simmered down, I took it off the heat and added 1/2 cup of yogurt to thicken it up. Some of the traditional recipes call for cream, but yogurt is healthier and accomplishes the same result. In the end, I had a wonderfully rich sauce that was thicker than straight tomato puree and the yogurt added just a touch of bite to the mix - a real pleasure for the taste buds.

After about 45 minutes (it actually ended up being like an hour, because I got a few phone calls), I took the chicken out of the fridge and coated it in a yogurt/garlic/ginger/oil marinade and immediately put it in the broiler. The broiler pan had the top piece removed, the bottom piece covered with tin foil and a metal rack put on top for the chicken to cook on. The chicken was about 6" away from the flame when all was said and done. Now, I'm sure the yogurt thing has some of you perplexed. At first, I was a little curious myself. I said to myself, "Won't the yogurt just curdle and burn in that heat?"...

Well, as it turns out, yogurt actually protects the meat from charring...don't ask me how, it has something to do with the lactic acid and the way yogurt is made that acts like a heat shield. So, while a normal chicken breast would probably be a hockey puck under a broiler for 20 minutes, the chicken breasts covered in the yogurt mixture came out with the outside nicely browned and crispy with the inside juicy and moist (see picture above). Once I removed it from the broiler, I let it rest for 5 minutes.

**Resting is very important when cooking any meat. As meat rests, the juices that have risen to the surface of the meat have a chance to settle back in and keep the meat moist. If you cut a piece of meat before it has rested (or while it is cooking to check internal temperature), the juices will all run out and you will have a dried out piece of leather instead of the properly cooked meat you were originally preparing. Instead, use an instant-read thermometer (can be picked up anywhere for a few bucks) and use that to check internal temperature. Chicken should register around 160-165 degrees to be free of any bacteria that may get you sick. Resting will actually increase internal temperature slightly, so taking meat out a few degrees beforehand should get you the perfect temp when you are ready to cut.**

Finally, I cut the chicken into cubes (1"x1") and mixed into the sauce, which has been sitting on the stove, covered with no heat. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of Cilantro to be mixed in just prior to serving, which I did.

^Tip^ Spices and garnishes carry with them their own flavors, some stronger than others. I personally find Cilantro to be a very strong herb that should be used sparingly. I found that 2 tablespoons was a bit overwhelming for my tastes, so I will use half as much next time. However, the final flavor is up to the cook, so don't be afraid to experiment and see what suits your own tastes.

Once everything was mixed together, I put the rice in the bowl and ladeled out the sauce and chicken over it. The plated result is above and as you can see, it looked appetizing before even tasting.

The dish overall took about 1.5 hours to make, including the time the chicken was in the fridge.

One funny note: My dog is probably one of the pickiest eaters I have ever met. She refuses to eat dog food most days and I end up cooking for her at least twice a day. Yesterday, while my wife and I were eating dinner, the dog was sitting at the foot of the table just staring at us with her big ole puppy dog eyes like we had committed one of the seven deadly sins for not sharing our dinner with her. I was leary to give her any because the dish does have some heat to it (spicy), but Nicole said to offer it. Well, would you know she snubbed the hamburger we made for her and ate all the left over Masala. I had to heat up more rice and make a little more for her from what was left in the pan because she loved it. How many dogs do you know that would give up a hamburger for some Indian Masala???

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading and as always...

Yours in cooking,

Chris