Chicken Tikka Masala

I know I said I was going to cook my way through William Sitwell's A History of Food in 100 Recipes, and I am, but I just wanted to share this recipe first.

I love Indian food and when I saw this Chicken Tikka Masala recipe in Bon Appetit, I knew it would become a fast favorite. I've made it three times. The first time it came out perfectly; the second was a complete failure; and the last was pretty good, even though I completely butchered the recipe. I also never have all of the ingredients on hand and don't always remember everything at the supermarket. I usually have to leave out ingredients or substitute, hoping it still works out.

Below is the recipe, with the mangled version I actually made in blue.  

Ingredients:

• 6 garlic cloves
• 4 teaspoons of finely grated peeled ginger - Omitted
• 4 teaspoons turmeric
• 2 teaspoons garam masala 
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 cups whole-milk yogurt (not Greek) - I only had Greek, so I added milk to thin it out
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2lbs boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, halved - I used boneless, skinless, chicken thighs
• 3 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
• 1 small onion
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 6 cardamom pods, crushed - I substituted with ground cardamom
• 2 dried chiles de arbol or 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes
• 2 cups of heavy cream
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro - Omitted
• Steamed Basmati rice 

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; add chicken and turn to coat. In a rush to marinate the chicken between conference calls,  I accidentally added all of the spice mixture to the yogurt. Cover and chill 4-6 hours. 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. Since I didn't have any spice mixture left, I moved the chicken to broiler pan and added the left over marinade to the pot on the stove.

Add tomatoes with juices, crushing them with your hands as you add them. BE CAREFUL! The tomatoes are filled with juice so when you crush them they spray everywhere and I mean EVERYWHERE. Not that having my shirt covered with food is a surprise or even remotely abnormal but most people prefer not to wear tomato stained clothes. 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. I used only 1 cup of cream, since I added the yogurt based marinade.

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. I love chicken cooked this way it's toasty and adds a lot of flavor without taking the time to light the grill.

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

 Serve with rice and cilantro sprigs.