Indian Food

Before he died the owner of my fav indian restaurant shared a "trick" with me in cooking indian food "for my husband". Ignore the cook times on the tomato curry recipes. Let the sauce cook for at least 12 hours on low.

Butter Chicken / Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients
1 3/4 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs - cubed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 tsp - 1 tablespoon chili powder (indian chili powder, not the kind for chili con carne)
salt to taste

 1 cup yogurt
salt to taste
2 tablespoons garlic paste
1/2 tablespoon garam masala
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons ginger paste
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
red food coloring
yellow food coloring
 
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon chopped green chile pepper
2 cups tomato puree
1 tablespoon chili powder
salt to taste
1 cup water
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
1 cup heavy cream

Directions
1. To Marinate: Place chicken in a nonporous glass dish or bowl with lemon juice, 1 tablespoon chili powder and salt. Toss to coat; cover dish and refrigerate to marinate for 1 hour.

2. Drain yogurt in a cloth for 15 to 20 minutes (optional). Place in a medium bowl; mix in salt, garlic paste, garam masala, butter, chili powder, ginger paste, lemon juice and oil, and 1/2 & 1/2 red & yellow food coloring. Pour yogurt mixture over chicken, replace cover and refrigerate to marinate for another 3 to 4 hours to overnight

((Steps 1 & 2 can be combined if you're marinating overnight, just mix all together and let it sit for 12-24 hours. ALSO make sure there's enough to completely cover all of the chicken bits))

1. To Make Sauce: Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garam masala. When masala begins to crackle, mix in ginger paste, chopped garlic and green chile peppers. Saute until tender, then stir in tomato puree, chili powder, salt and water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring in honey and fenugreek. Pour in cream. ALLOW TO COOK FOR AS MANY HOURS AS POSSIBLE. 6 at a minimum. 12-24 is better. I use a slow cooker and let it go all day.

To Cook Tandoori Chicken Tikka without a tandoori

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

2. Place chicken on skewers. Rinse off extra marinade. Zap or sautee one piece quickly to check for seasoning / salt / etc. Place skewers in a 9x13 inch baking dish and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until almost cooked through.

3. Turrn broiler on high. Cook skewers under broiler until the chicken is a brilliant orange color with bits of char.

4. Place chicken in sauce mixture. Serve over Basmati Rice

I also cook some Indian but I do a simple version because I just don't have time to do what the first person said. Take some chicken (I use either breast or boneless thigh) and cut it up and sautee it in butter until just cooked. Try to get some crust on it. Then remove from pan, add more butter , about 2-3 tablespoons (ghee, which is clarified butter is the best but once again, don't really have time to make it) and a little olive oil. Sautee 1-2 finely choppped onions for about 10 minutes then add 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic, 1 tablespoon or so grated ginger, 1 tablespoon garam masala, and a tiny bit of Indian red chili powder. Allow to "bloom" in the butter. This makes the flavors come out. If you have ground coriander use that too. If not, at the end of cooking, throw in a little chopped cilantro. Anyway, add about 2-3 cups of chopped or pureed tomatoes and allow to cook long and slow for at least 1-2 hours. Add the chicken back in as well. Add salt and pepper to taste. When its done cooking, add the cilantro if you have it and some heavy cream to taste.

Ahhhh.... I LOVE LOVE LOVE Indian food and curries.
But I have never cooked it from scratch....
I... have gotten the pre-made sauce.. from Williams Sonoma. REAL good... REAL good.

Darn, now I am craving it....

I made some Indian food last week for dinner... again, from the pre-made sauce from WS. My family loves it. Including the kids.
Here is the link:
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/search/results.html?active...

I also love Indian food, so I searched for a Chicken Tikka Masala recipe and found one on Allrecipes.com that we love! We use half the cayenne pepper, half the jalapeno pepper, and you can even half the salt in the marinade. It calls for a lot! But it's a delicious recipe!!! And doesn't call for a lot of Indian specific ingredients that you don't already have on hand. Try it out:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Tikka-Masala/Detail....

T., thank you so much for asking this question. i, too, love indian food-ESPECIALLY Tikka Masala-and have never found a recipe. i'm going to try these out, too!