So as I mentioned yesterday, I planned to make Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner.

This is from the September/October 2007 issue of Cook’s Illustrated.

Chicken Tikka Masala
Serves 4 to 6

Chicken Tikka
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. table salt
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast, trimmed of fat
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
1 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger

Masala Sauce
3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
2 tsp. fresh grated ginger
1 Serrano chile, minced (seeds and ribs removed)
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. garam masala (McCormick’s Spices is recommended, though you can make your own)
1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. table salt
2/3 C heavy cream
1/4 C fresh chopped cilantro leaves

Chicken:
Combine cumin, coriander, cayenne pepper, and salt in a small bowl. Sprinkle the spice mixture over the chicken breasts and press into the flesh so it adheres. Place chicken on platter and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. In a large bowl, whisk yogurt, oil, garlic, and ginger. Set aside.

Sauce:
Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and cook, stirring until light golden (8-10 minutes). Add garlic, ginger, chile, tomato paste, and garam masala. Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant (around 3 minutes). Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, and salt. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in cream and return to simmer. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

Combining the chicken and the sauce:
Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and heat broiler. Using tongs, dip chicken into yogurt mixture. Chicken should be coated thickly. Arrange on a foil lined rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan.

Broil chicken 6″ from the broiler until the thickest part is 160 F and the exterior is lightly charred in spots, 10 – 18 minutes, flipping chicken half way through.

Let the chicken rest 5 minutes, then cut into 1″ chunks and stir into warm tomato sauce (do not simmer the chicken in the sauce). Stir in cilantro.

Serve over rice (preferably basmati).

Duncan’s comments:
Since takaza detests onions, I pureed the onions first, then browned the resulting paste. I had to add a little water from time to time to account for the additional surface area. Other than that I pretty much followed the recipe as stated. The results? Mighty damn tasty, I think! It’s not exactly what I’ve had at Indian restaurants, but it’s a good start and clearly all of the flavor elements are present. The next time I make this (and I will be making it again!), I’ll double the amount of spice mixture going on the chicken breasts and make sure to distribute it a bit more evenly (this time the chicken is mostly bland with pockets of WHOA!). I’ll also up the heat a bit by leaving some of the seeds and ribs of the chile in, though it could maybe even use an additional chile. The sauce was a little too tomato-y, but the cilantro and ginger gave it a nice kick. Also, I need to make sure that the chicken breasts are a bit more even in thickness – one of the breasts needed some extra time under the broil because it was so thick, but the thin part got dried out. Pounding the thick part down a bit before the spice rub will help with that. Oh, and while sushi rice is tasty and our usual staple, this recipe really needs some nice basmati rice to go with it. Overall, this recipe was a real winner!