Potatoes and Chicken in a Tikka Masala Sauce

Ever have a cooking failure? As much as I would like to believe that I only know how to create amazing food, it does not always happen. Tonight was such a night. I am venturing into the world of Indian cooking. Indian food is still very foreign territory to me. I can eat it but when it comes to cooking it I am very lost. You see I'm not quite sure how all the various spices come together to make that distinctive Indian flavor. We were not taught Indian cooking in school. It is a cuisine that is probably hard to teach in culinary school where the chefs were all trained in the classic European technique. I don't have any friends of Indian descent and we all know authentic recipes are usually family recipes passed on from mother to child and not posted on the internet.

Despite all this I still wanted to test the waters. After all it was trial and error that helped me perfect my Thai red curry. So I searched and searched through various recipes for a chicken tikka masala. After doing my internet research and reading through such reliable sources as wikipedia, I discovered that tikka masala is not a true Indian dish. It is British in origin. It is said that a Bengali chef prepared chicken tikka for his clients. His clients sent it back and asked for a sauce. How can you serve meat that is not nappe with sauce? In order to appease the British palate, the chef created a sauce using Campbell's Cream of Tomato soup doctored up with a few Indian spices. I'm not sure if this legend is entirely true. Is Cream of Tomato popular in Great Britain?

With so many varying recipes I decided to stick with Savory Spice Shop's Tikka Masala blend as a starting point. I can then work from there. After all it is just a mixture of various spices. A co-worker speaks highly of the spice blends at Savory. Savory Spice Shop specializes in spices for the average home cook instead of supplying the Denver area restaurants. The blend contains: Spanish sweet paprika, cumin, coriander, ginger, guajillo chile, aji amarillo chile, garlic, turmeric, black pepper, black cardamom, charnushka, spearmint, cloves, mace, cinnamon and bay leaves.

The owner of the shop put together a recipe for using his blend. Below is his recipe.

Ingredients:
1lb. sliced chicken breast
31/2 -5 tbsp. tikka masala powder
1 1/2 tsp. honey
3 1/2 tbsp. tomato powder mix into 8 oz. water
2-3 tbsp. olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup half & half
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2mcup plain yogurt
12oz bag frozen vegetables or 2 cups of sauted, fresh bite-size vegetables

Directions:
Convert tikka powder into paste by following the instructions on the label and set aside. If using, thoroughly mix tomato powder, honey powder and water into a smooth sauce and set aside. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium/high heat. If sauting veggies, do so now and set aside. If using frozen, pop in microwave for 2-2 1/2 minutes. Next, lightly brown the sliced chicken on both sides and remove to a cutting board. Lower heat to medium, add veggies and stir in tikka paste. Cook for 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cut chicken into bite-size pieces and stir into veggies. Next, stir in lemon juice, sea salt, your tomato choice and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Mix together the yogurt and the half & half in a small bowl. Reduce heat to a simmer and thoroughly stir in the yogurt mixture. Cover and simmer for 5-8 minutes stirring occasionally.

Serving Suggestions:
Over rice with chopped cilantro and pita, tortilla or naan bread. Start cooking rice simultaneously and it should be ready to serve when the tikka masala is complete.

You can use 3 1/2 to 5 tbsp. Tikka Masala powder depending on the level of heat and depth of flavor desired.

Recipe Summary:
Servings: 4
Total time: 1/2 hour

Thanks to: Mike Johnston, Savory Spice Shop Owner

Reflections:
1. I didn't use vegetables because I've never had tikka masala with vegetables before. I did have some purple potatoes that I needed to use. Potatoes and chicken sounded like a great combination.
2. The tomato powder and water mixture made something that looked like canned tomato sauce. Is tomato sauce made from a mix?
3. 3 1/2 tablespoons of tomato powder was too much. It tasted too tomato-ey(?)
4. Since I added uncooked potatoes, I needed to add more water and cook it longer.

I wasn't thrilled about the flavor. Maybe it needs to sit in its own juices and all the flavors will then meld together. I could barely eat my dinner. I didn't finish it. Most of it went into the garbage disposal.

It is just not my cooking day. The second disaster was the rice. I've cooked hundreds of pots of rice and I'v'e never had a bad pot of rice. I put the basmati in my trusty rice cooker. As the water boiled, it created all these bubbles that threatened to lift the lid right off the pot. It looked really dry. I added more water. After the pot switched from cook to keep warm, I got a wet uncooked mess.

Both the rice and the potatoes & chicken in the tikka masala sauce was not entirely disgusting it just wasn't amazing. The rice was edible and the masala was bearable.

Look at the pretty purple potatoes.

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Aloo Chole (Potato Garbanzo Bean Curry)

I made this for soupgroup. I wanted to make the potato dish often served at indian restaurants. I was not sure what the dish was called. Instead of potatoes and peas or potatoes and cauliflower, I decided to make a potato and garbanzo bean combination.

1 lb. garbanzo beans, rinsed
4 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
1 large onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 teaspoons tumeric
1 to 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon garam masala
2 teaspoons madras curry powder
2 pinches asafetida
4 green cardamon pods
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 tomato, diced
2 teaspoons tomato powder
2 tablespoons honey
8 cups vegetable or chicken stock
sea salt, to taste
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

1. Bring garbanzo beans to a boil. Cover and let sit overnight.
2. Boil garbanzo beans until almost tender.
3. In a large pot, heat ghee. Add onions and garlic and sauté until translucent. Do not burn the garlic.
4. Add potatoes and sauté a few minutes. Add tumeric, cayenne, garam masala, curry powder, asafetida, and cardamon pods. Saute a few minutes until fragrant.
5. Add ginger, tomato powder, and stock. Bring to a boil. Add garbanzo beans and simmer until potatoes and garbanzos are tender. Add salt. Garnish with cilantro.

It tastes better if you let it sit for a few hours. The potatoes and garbanzo beans will absorb all the yummy spices. The spices (including the asafetida, tomato powder, garam massala, madras curry, and cardamon pods) are from Savory Spice Shop.

All packed in official soupgroup containers.

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Tandoori Chicken, Chickpea Curry, and Cucumber Tomato Raita

Chai TeaCucumber-Tomato Raita

Brown Basmati

Curried Chickpeas

Tandoori Chicken Breast

Chris is coming over for lunch tomorrow. I invited him to come see my new place and help me unpack. I decided to make Tandoori Chicken and then I had to think of some side dishes to serve it with. The chicken in marinating in the refrigerator right now. I already made the raita and precooked the chickpea curry. It just needs to finish cooking tomorrow. I may or may not make brown rice basmati with some cardamon and peas. I'll also make hot chai tea. For dessert (not very indian) is warm sugarless flourless chocolate cake with chocolate almond low carb ice cream. Okay I am starting week four of South Beach so this menu is very South Beach friendly. The brown basmati rice is a maybe at this point.

Tandoori Chicken
3 chicken breasts
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 lemon, juiced
1 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
4 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon annatto seeds, crushed
pinch saffron
1 teaspoon yellow food coloring
1 teaspoon red food coloring
2 teaspoons finely chopped cilantro

1. Cut slits in chicken.
2. Combine all ingredients and marinate overnight.
3. Broil in oven until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.

Cucumber-Tomato Raita
2 cucumbers, seeded and sliced thinly
1 roma tomato, diced
1/2 cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 T sour cream
1/2 t kosher salt
1/4 t groung cumin
1/4 t paprika
2 T cilantro, chopped

Mix all ingredients together.

Curried Chickpea s
3 cups dried chickpeas or garbanzo beans (par-cook)
2 T olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
3 t curry powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t garam masala
salt and pepper TT
water as needed
cilantro, chopped

1. Par-cook chickpeas. Drain, rinse, and set aside.
2. Sautee onion and garlic in olive oil. Add spices and sautee until fragrant. Add chickpeas and water. Cook until tender. Garnish with cilantro.

Brown Basmati

• brown basmati rice
• vegetable oil
• cinnamon stick
• cardamom pods
  
• whole cloves
• cumin seed
• salt
• water
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• peas
  

Chai Tea was made from boiling 1% milk with a few Celestial Seasonings Chocolate Caramel Enchantment Chai Tea.

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