Chicken Tikka Masala and 7 years of devotion - part 1

My Husband loves Indian food, in particular, Chicken Tikka Masala and Sag Paneer.  For years, seven to be exact, he has asked me to make them for him.  My reply is usually no.  There are several reasons for this but the biggest being that Chicken Tikka Masala is not a real Indian dish. 

I grew up Gujarati and my parents were vegetarian (this is a post of its own that I will get to, promise) so this meant things like cauliflower or eggplant or lentils for dinner rather than Chicken Tikka Masala. We also never cooked with heavy cream.  Yogurt was sometimes added to a dish but never heavy cream.

I have seen many versions of Chicken Tikka and the first I made used ground almonds and cashews to provide richness to the sauce.  I spent hours making this for him the first time and his response after his first bite was "did you forget to add cream?"

So, I decided I would make my husband his version of an Indian dinner.  Paneer and cream included.  This post has the Chicken Tikka Masala but there was spinach with paneer and naan as well.

It's not that I don't love ordering this dish when I'm getting take out.  I just feel like this is fundamentally not an Indian dish.  There are a lot of elements that are authentic but some parts are not and I think that is why I have never been inclined to make it at home.

I also didn't want to know how bad this dish actually was for me.  I was happy in my ignorance, just eating it as takeout, and never knowing how much ghee or cream were really used to make this dish so tasty.

This was a fun meal to make.  My husband made Manhattans, played DJ and took pictures.  We spent the entire evening making this dinner but loved being able to sit down at our dinner table and enjoy it together.  

As we sat down to eat this meal, my husband had the biggest smile on his face and as he took that first bite, he looked at me and said "it only took 7 years of devotion, but it was totally worth it."

Chicken Tikka Masala

(Adapted from Bon Appetite)
 
6 garlic cloves, grated
4 teaspoons finely grated peeled ginger
4 teaspoons ground turmeric
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 cups whole-milk yogurt
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, halved lengthwise
3 tablespoons ghee
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup tomato paste
6 cardamom pods, crushed
1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro plus sprigs for garnish

Preparation

I use a microplane to grate the garlic and ginger.  Combine garlic, ginger, turmeric, garam masala, coriander, and cumin in a small bowl.

Whisk yogurt, salt, and half of spice mixture in a medium bowl.  Pour into a plastic bag and add chicken.  Make sure the mixture is spread all through out the chicken and it is all evenly coated.  Refridgerate over night. 

Cover and chill remaining spice mixture.

Heat ghee in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion, tomato paste, cardamom, and chiles and cook, stirring often, until tomato paste has darkened and onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add remaining half of spice mixture and cook, stirring often, until bottom of pot begins to brown, about 4 minutes.

Add tomatoes with juices, crushing them with your hands as you add them. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often and scraping up browned bits from bottom of pot, until sauce thickens, 8-10 minutes.

Add cream and chopped cilantro. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, 30-40 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat broiler. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set a wire rack inside sheet. Arrange chicken on rack in a single layer. Broil until chicken starts to blacken in spots (it will not be cooked through), about 10 minutes.

Cut chicken into bite-size pieces, add to sauce, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through, 8-10 minutes. 

Serve with warm Naan or rice or both!

Rasa Malai

One of my favorite things to make with my Mom is Rasa Malai.  I remember pulling one of our yellow vinyl dining room chairs (yeah, it was the 80's) to the stove and stirring a pot of milk that I could barely see over.  My one job was to make sure the milk didn't burn and I took it very seriously.

Once the milk started to boil, I had to stir while my mom added lemon juice to break the milk so it would separate the curd out.  This was my favorite part and it was like magic.  As as she added the lemon juice we would both just stare at the pot waiting for the curds to appear. 

As I made this same recipes in my kitchen in San Francisco almost 25 years later, I could still feel the excitement as I waited for the lemon juice to take action. 

 

Once the milk breaks, you have to drain it in cheese cloth.  Try and squeeze as much water out as possible without burning your hands.  This can get tricky since it is milk that was just boiling.  Watch your finger!

Let it sit in a colander over a bowl for an hour.

While this sits and drains, it's time to get started on the sauce.  Reducing a gallon of milk by half take a lot of patience but it is worth it.  As the sugars start to caramelize and the milk gets velvety, I add some saffron that I steeped in warm milk and cardamom

 

This should take about an hour and if you arms isn't hurting from stirring milk, you haven't been doing you job!

Once the sauce is done, it's time to make the milk patties.  The curds have been draining for an hour and now you have to kneed them for a bit to make them smooth and uniform so you can roll them into patties.

Once they are all shaped, its time to steep them in the sauce for 10 minutes.

At this point I let them cool in the fridge overnight to give the patties time to absorb the flavors of the saffron and cardamom. 

Milk Patties

1 Gallon of Whole milk
2-3 Tbls of Lemon juice

See sauce recipe below

Bring the milk to a boil on medium high heat stirring constantly as to not burn the milk.  Once the milk comes to a boil, add the lemon juice and turn off the heat.  Once the milk has broken, strain the curds through cheese cloth and place in a colander over a bowl for an hour.

Once the curds have had time to drain, place in a bowl and kneed till soft and uniform but make sure to not over do it.  You should feel the fat from the milk coat your hands lightly.

Take about 2 Tablespoons of the dough and roll it into a ball.  Light press it down into a disc shape.

Once you have made all the patties, place them in the sauce which should be simmering.  Cook for about 10 minutes.  They should puff up and look swollen.

Let them rest in the fridge overnight.

Garnish with sliced almonds or pistachios

Milk Sauce

 

1 Gallon of Whole Milk
1 Cup of Sugar
big pinch of Saffron
10-12 Cardamom pods tied up in cheese cloth

Bring milk, sugar an cardamom to a boil and reduce to a simmer.  Place the saffron in a bowl and add some of the warmed milk.  Let the saffron sit for 5 minutes an then add to the pot of milk.  Once the milk has reduced by half, take off the heat till it's time to cook the patties.