Chicken Tikka Masala + Aloo Gobi

As I get older, my Fridays look a bit different than they used to. And I am A-OK with that! I feel like when I was younger, I'd hear people say that they were glad to be out of their 20s, and I didn't really believe them. Now that I am approaching the end of my 20s, I truly understand that vibe and feeling. And I am living for it. It is so much more mellow and I would now rather tuck into bed at 10 than go OUT somewhere at 10 - what in the actual hell were we thinking lol.

When I asked my roommate Jessie what she wanted to do, she said Fridays usually consisted of getting a little stoned, tv, and eating Indian food so I was inspired immediately. I am training for a triathlon sprint right now and I am always looking for good food fuel after a workout. I knew the spice and protein would hit the spot so off to the store I went. I am glad that I chose to not get stoned before going to the store, because soberly I spent roughly 15 minutes in the spice aisle trying to find garam masala and cardamom. I eventually had to look up what cardamom pods looked like so I could look for those instead of the name on the bottle. To my huge annoyance, the only available cardamom pods Andronico's had were $22, but when you're doing the damn thing you better do it right so there I was.

I had so many revelations during this meal prep. The first is that Indian food ALWAYS takes longer than you think. We thought the meal was going to be easy breezy, and it ended up taking roughly 3 hours total - which is fine! But probably not something you want to make if you're in a time crunch. The second thing I learned is that coriander is AKA cilantro and that. blew. my. mind. What's wild is that dried coriander seeds have a completely different flavor and smell than cilantro, so it took me a good 5 minutes to bring my mouth off the floor and actually believe what I was reading. The third is that Jessie does not recommend microplaning once high, which I feel is good live advice. The fourth and final revelation is that "Dinner Playlist" on Spotify is fire, 10/10 - highly recommend.

There was something missing from this recipe and I can't put my finger on it. First of all, I think it could've used more salt. There also was some heat missing from it so I think the first thing I would do is double all of my spices in the next round. It was like the flavor was there, but I wanted more of it. Usually I don't think marinating things for that long is that big of a deal, but I think in this case it definitely affected the recipe. TBD. I found this recipe on Bon Appétit - big surprise!

Chicken Tikka Masala Ingredients:

6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 teaspoons finely grated peeled ginger
4 teaspoons ground turmeric
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 cups whole-milk yogurt
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, halved lengthwise
3 tablespoons ghee or vegetable oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup tomato paste
6 cardamom pods, crushed
2 dried chiles de árbol, or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup chopped cilantro, plus sprigs for garnish
Steamed basmati rice

Chicken Tikka Masala Directions:

1. 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. Cover and chill 4-6 hours (I did NOT do this because I didn't see this until we were well underway, so maybe that is the culprit to the flavor being off). Cover and chill remaining spice mixture.

2. 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. If the pot looks too brown on the bottom, do not stress. The tomato acidity will cut it down and you will not have to spend all night scrubbing your dishes.

3. Add tomatoes with juices, crushing them with your hands as you add them (this is the fun part). 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.

4. Add cream and chopped cilantro. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, 30-40 minutes.

5. 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.

6. 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.

Aloo Gobi Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
1 bunch fresh coriander (cilantro), separated into stalks and leaves and roughly chopped
1 large cauliflower, leaves removed and cut evenly into eigths
2 large yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into even pieces
2 8 ounce cans diced tomatoes
Fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seed
2 teaspoons turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons garam masala
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chicken broth

Aloo Gobi Directions:

1. Heat vegetable oil in a large saucepan.

2. Add the chopped onion and one teaspoon of cumin seeds to the oil. Stir together, and cook until onions become creamy, golden and translucent. 

3. Add chopped coriander stalks (cilantro), two teaspoons of turmeric, two tablespoons cayenne, and one teaspoon of salt. Stir tomatoes into onion mixture. 

4. Add garlic and ginger; mix thoroughly. 

5. Add potatoes and cauliflower to the sauce plus a few tablespoons of water or chicken broth (ensuring that the mixture doesn't stick to the saucepan). Ensure that the potatoes and cauliflower are coated with the curry sauce. Cover and allow to simmer for twenty minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.

6. Add two teaspoons of garam masala and stir. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top of the curry.

7. Turn off the heat, cover, and leave for as long as possible before serving.