FOODlog #374: Chicken Tikka Masala

A friend of mine gave me some garam masala that he made recently and I decided to use it to make some Indian curry. For our first round of using it, my colleague made a popular Indian/English dish - Chicken Tikka Masala.

This is a simplified version without using a tandoor to cook the chicken but the marinade and the rest of the herbs and spices are that of chicken tikka masala.

The chicken is first marinated in yogurt and a mixture of spices like paprika, cayenne, cumin powder, coriander powder, fennel powder, black pepper and salt. This yogurt marinade tenderizes the chicken as well flavor the chicken meat. It marinades for at least 30 minutes are room temperature or overnight in the fridge to allow all the flavors from the herbs and spices to penetrate the chicken thoroughly.

On to the cooking. The dish starts with butter then turmeric powder, paprika powder, cumin, fennel, coriander powder, cinnamon sticks, chili powder, and the garam masala goes in. Next the marinated chicken goes in and it's cooked until the dish gets dryer which takes about 20-30 minutes.

He also cooked another dish of stir fried bean sprouts simply seasoned with oyster sauce, salt and pepper, and the dish is done.

We ate these 2 wonderful dishes with rice and it was so delicious. The chicken was so flavorful and the curry was divine! A dish that we'll definitely want to cook again in the near future!