Chicken tikka masala!
I have a new found love for Indian food! It basically started when my aunts were in town and we had dinner together at a small Indian restaurant called Maharaja. If you've never been there and live near Madison you should definetly check them out. I HIGHLY recommend them. The food is delicious and the service is superb. If anything, go just for the service. They're wonderful. This was my second time eating there and for some reason I enjoyed the food much more than the first time. A few weeks later Sandeep, a friend from work, had a few of us over for an Indian night. He prepared a meal for us and we watched an Indian movie. The next week we ate at Maharaja again and now I think I'm hooked for life!
I've been trying to make an Indian dish myself for a few weeks now. Good news! I found this Tikka Masala sauce the other day while at a grocery store I don't normally shop at when in search for a special ingredient for a new recipe (which I hope to make tonight and share on here - so excited!!). I made chicken tikka masala last night for supper and it was spectacular. As though I made it from a mixture of individual spices. Ok, not quite that good.
I cooked up a chicken breast, added the sauce, covered and simmered from 10 minutes. Just like the directions say. :) Meanwhile, I cooked my basmati rice (given to me by my Indian friend, Sandeep) to perfection. Basmati rice must be easy to cook because any other time I cook rice, heck even Minute rice, it turns mushy and gross. Maybe basmati is just the right type of grain where it doesn't get mushy when cooked... Anyway, back to my supper. I took the cover off the tikka masala sauce and it stunk like Italian food. Yuck. Don't get me wrong, I love Italian. LOVE it! Just not when I'm trying to make Indian. The smell was kind of appalling actually. So I added a bunch of curry powder and some paprika. Walla! Chicken tikka masala! The curry powder was the perfect addition to mask some of the sweetness and smell of the tomatoes in the sauce.
As much fun as it would be to sit back, relax and order this at a restaurant, it was much fun experimenting with the spices and making it at home. Especially on the cheap. :)
Have you made any tasty new concoctions lately? Or maybe not so tasty?
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