Whether you love Chicken Tikka Masala or you’ve never tried it in your life, you’re in for a treat. Ryan comes through once again with a tremendously flavorful version that is sure to knock the socks off of anyone who takes a bite.

Start by seasoning the chicken breasts with some kosher salt. Next sprinkle them on both sides with some coriander and cumin. Then coat the chicken breasts completely with the plain yogurt. Set the chicken on a metal cooling rack over a foil-lined baking sheet and place it about 10-12 inches below a broiler for 5-7 minutes per side. Watch carefully so as not to totally char the chicken. It should have slightly blackened edges. Remove from oven. Next dice one large onion. In a large skillet melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Toss in the onions and sauté until they are slightly browned. As the onions cook, mince your garlic. Next, cut off the outer skin and mince or grate a 1 by 2 inch chunk of fresh ginger. Add the garlic and ginger to the onions. Also throw in about 1 tablespoon of salt. Next you are going to add about 3 tablespoons Garam Masala spice. And if you like it hot, this is also when you will add your hot chili peppers. Serranos work well. Now you are going to add your can of diced tomatoes. Continue cooking and stirring, scraping the bottom of the pan to deglaze it. Add about 1 tablespoon sugar. Let this mixture simmer on medium for about 5 minutes. To a rice cooker add 2 cups Basmati rice, 4 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon Ground Turmeric and 4 cups water. Cover, turn on your rice cooker and walk away. If you do not have a rice cooker, cook your rice as usual but make sure that you use Basmati rice. After the Tikka Masala sauce has had a chance to simmer for a little bit, add in the 1 ½ cups of heavy cream. Now, chop up your chicken breasts into chunks and stir them into the Tikka Masala sauce. A handful of chopped fresh cilantro is a nice addition if you like cilantro. You can also throw some frozen peas into the cooked rice, give them a stir, and allow the heat of the rice to cook the peas. It tastes great and gives another nice dash of color. Serve the rice with the Chicken Tikka Masala over top. Make sure to have some Nann bread handy, too.

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Whether you love Chicken Tikka Masala or you’ve never tried it in your life, you’re in for a treat. Ryan comes through once again with a tremendously flavorful version that is sure to knock the socks off of anyone who takes a bite. He also explains the mystery of the Garam Masala spice blend, which has always eluded me a bit. Thanks for sharing, Ryan! -PW

Here in Cincinnati, we’ve got an Indian restaurant that I frequent whenever I have the chance. It’s amazing. The garlic Nan bread is to die for, and they’ve got about a hundred different items on the menu that all taste fantastic. The trouble is, I can’t seem to pry myself away from the Chicken Tikka Masala.

I love this dish. If I weren’t married, I would definitely court it for a little while, and then sweep it away for a romantic weekend where I could propose near a waterfall under the stars. Thankfully, I am married and I don’t have to deal with all the drama that would come from being wed to a food item. So I’ve done the next best thing. I’ve figured out how to create an incredible version of Chicken Tikka Masala at home. Here’s how:

To start we’ll need to put together a pretty good-sized ingredients list. But I’m telling you, it’s worth it. We’ll begin with the absolutely necessary stuff.

3-4 Chicken Breasts.





Plain Yogurt (1/2 cup), Butter (6 Tbsp), and Heavy Cream (1 1/2 cups)





28 oz. can diced tomatoes. I’m using petite diced. Crushed tomatoes would work even better for a smoother texture in the end product…but there is no federal standard on crushed tomatoes. so it’s somewhat of a crapshoot if you’re going to get a good quality can or not. I’ll stick with the diced tomatoes.





1 Large Onion, 4 Cloves of Garlic, and fresh Ginger (1 x 2-inch chunk)





Cumin, Garam Masala spice mix, and Ground Coriander.

Garam Masala is highly important in this dish. It’s pretty easy to find in grocery stores with a decent spice selection…but if you can’t find it you can make your own.

A good Garam Masala spice mix recipe is:

1 tablespoon coriander; ground

1 tablespoon cumin; ground

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper; ground

1 tablespoon fennel seeds; ground

1 tablespoon ginger; ground

1 tablespoon cardamom; ground

1 tablespoon nutmeg; ground

1 TEASPOON cloves; ground





OPTIONAL Ingredients for this dish would include fresh Cilantro, Chili Peppers (these are Serranos), and Turmeric (for our rice).





We’ll get started by seasoning our chicken breasts with some salt. Kosher is best.





Then sprinkle with some Cumin and Coriander…both sides, now.





Then we’re going to coat the seasoned chicken breasts with some plain yogurt.





Once the chicken breasts are coated with the yogurt thoroughly, we can transfer them to our baking sheet. I really like to use a foil-lined baking sheet with a metal cooling rack over it. This makes for less surface contact on the chicken and helps it to cook more evenly.





Slide the chicken in under the broiler for 5-7 minutes and then flip the chicken over and broil for another 5-7 minutes. The chicken should be about 10-12 inches from the broiler.









We’ll begin our Tikka Masala sauce by chopping a large onion.





As with all good things, we’ll need some butter. Two tablespoons melted over a medium-high heat.





Toss in the onions to get them slightly browned.





While the onions are cooking, we’ll need to crush some GAHLIC.





If you don’t have a garlic press, no worries. You can mince it up. If you do have a garlic press, I have a tip for you. Don’t peel the garlic. There’s no need to. Just pop it in there and press. The skin will stay in the press and clean garlic will come right through.





For the ginger, cut off the outer skin and get yourself a nice-sized chunk. This one is about 1 inch x 2 inches.





I’m using a microplane to grate it finely, but you can mince this too.





Add the Garlic and Ginger in to the Onions. A tablespoon of salt would be good here too. Reduce the heat to MEDIUM.





At this time we’ll add in 3 tablespoons of Garam Masala spice.

OPTIONAL HEAT:

You can slice up some chili peppers and toss them in here. I’m just using one today.





Now’s the time for that big ol’ can of tomatoes. I just dump them in with the juice and all. Get ready to stir them in quickly as this will de-glaze your pan and pull up all those sticky bits that have browned on the bottom of the pan.





1 tablespoon of sugar added to this sauce will balance out the acidity of the tomatoes nicely.





Mmm…let this simmer on medium for few minutes.

During that time, we’ll make our rice! I’m using a rice-cooker, which is a great thing. I can toss in all the ingredients and just let it go. It cooks the rice perfectly.

2 cups Basmati Rice, 4 tablespoons of Butter, 1 teaspoon of Salt, and 1 tablespoon of ground Turmeric. The Turmeric is totally optional, but it does create a dramatic yellow color and a great flavor.





4 cups of water go into the rice.

Turn on the rice-cooker and walk away. If you don’t have a rice-cooker, you’ll have to prepare rice as you normally would. Just make sure it’s Basmati.





After the Tikka Masala sauce has had a chance to simmer for a little bit, add in the 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream.





Give it all a stir until it looks something like this. Mmmmm.





Once this is stirred together….you can start taste-testing it for levels of spiciness and saltiness. We like some extra heat, so I’m adding in a good dose of cayenne pepper.





Remember these guys? Er…girls?





Chop them up into 1 inch chunks and add them to the sauce.





Ooooh, baby…





A handful of chopped Cilantro, too, if you’re into that sort of thing. I know I am.





Oh, look…our rice is done!





Now here’s where you can get really fancy. Add in a cup or two of frozen peas after the rice is cooked. Stir them in and the heat of the rice will cook the peas to perfection. Plus, it will make the wow-factor even higher.





Yes.





Top the rice with that wicked-awesome Chicken Tikka Masala now.





Hit this with a little extra chopped Cilantro on top for the big finish.





Stand in awe of what you’ve just created.

Feel free to eat it rapidly.

Now all we need is some of that Garlic Nan Bread. Hmm…

Love Wins,

Ryan