Chicken Tikka Masala (Or, OMFG I’m Gonna Eat It All)

J recently bought a cookbook that focuses more on fuelling athletic performance. The authors cook for professional cycling teams, so they know about cooking on the fly, cooking for hungry guys, and cooking for maintaining athletic performance. The recipes in the book are some they have used on the road. They hope to give athletes the means to eat healthy on their own.

I actually sat down and read through the introduction and explanation sections before delving into the recipes. The book? The Feed Zone Cookbook, by Biju Thomas and Allen Lim.

J had found one recipe online to try, a simple chicken fried rice. We modified it a bit (something they encourage) by using brown rice instead of white, and adding carrots to the mixed veggies, instead of just corn and peas. It’s delicious. I love it.

This week, J is gone for work and I have cleaned up the leftovers from the fridge. With meals running low, I flipped through the cookbook and found one of my favorite Indian dishes, Tikka Masala. It’s very basic, so you can modify it as you want from there.

The recipe calls for:

2 pounds of chicken

1 cup tomato sauce

1 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons curry powder

1 cup sliced onion

1 teaspoon salt

For starters, we had some frozen chicken tenderloins, so I thawed them out, not a full 2 pounds. I rounded that out with a green bell pepper cut in strips and a small zucchini cut into half circles.

I used a can of tomato sauce and greek yogurt, since that’s what I keep around. Also used up all my curry powder. Guess I’ll be buying more of that!

After chopping everything, I just mixed together the tomato sauce, yogurt, and curry.

I poured that over the chicken and veggies.

Then I put it in the fridge to marinate. I was a little slow getting the oven preheated, so it sat for about an hour and a half in the fridge, then I just popped my glass dish in the oven and set a timer for an hour.

I started some brown rice to serve with it and sat down to start writing this. Wait, what? Never you mind.

So, here’s a lesson for you. Read your recipe. Then read it again. And again, as you do it. And again, and again.

I forgot to cover the dish with foil.

Alas! All is not lost! Although it was not as soupy as it should have been, it was still very delicious. The sauce cooked down to a thick tomato paste and I enjoyed every bite.

I will make this again and remember the foil. Or you can cook it on the stove, just simmer for 30 minutes. You can also add some fresh ginger or chiles, which I hope to try next time as well.