Chicken Tikka Masala

The Best Chicken Tikka Masala

I know that everyone thinks they have the “Best” Chicken Tikka Masala recipe but most of these food bloggers are cutting corners and they’re not honoring the full recipe. Simple and easy recipes usually means that your not getting all of the flavor you could be enjoying if you put in just a little more love and finesse. There are a ton of ingredients in this recipe. In fact, probably the most I’ve ever published to date but after enjoying some Authentic Indian cuisine, Valentines Day, I decided this wasn’t a recipe I was going to cheat. So I got to work on it, immediately, and I shopped around until I found all of the ingredients I needed to make the Best Chicken Tikka Masala recipe.

Chicken Tikka Masala Seasoning

The most common ingredient in Chicken Tikka Masala is Garam Masala. Though, you can buy it as one seasoning, it’s really a combination of several other ingredients indigenous to India. Ironically, though, Chicken Tikka comes from India, the Masala recipe was created in England for locals that preferred a gravy with their Chicken Tikka and rice. So if you put the two together, you now have Chicken Tikka Masala and they both have the Garam Masala seasoning in them.

Other Ingredients in this recipe include Cardamom powder, which I have seen used as green and black seeds in recipes that use a blender and a sieve to strain the sauce. Also Fenugreek Leaves are usually used but I could only find the powder. I think everything else is more commonly known, like Cumin, Tumeric, Red Chili Powder(which shouldn’t be taken lightly), Coriander, Cinnamon and Clove.

The Chicken Tikka Masala Marinade

In the video tutorial, I show you how to make the Chicken Tikka Masala Marinade and this can be used the exact same way to prepare either chicken or shrimp. Again, the Garam Masala is used for marinating but the easiest way to add in all of the other ingredients is to just mix them altogether from the start, then add spoon fulls to both the marinade and the Masala, separately. The Seasoning recipe below provides you with enough spice to have a little left over, which is great on steaks, roasts and seafood. Also, the marinade calls for Curd or plain Yogurt. Use which ever is available to you. I went deep with it and bought Greek. On a side note, instead of Heavy Whipping Cream, I also bought Crema or Table Cream from the Mexican Food section in my dairy.

If you’re interested in trying my Plain or Garlic Naan recipe, to go along with this dish, I highly recommend it. I also make a mean Curry Chicken Salad!

Chicken Tikka Masala Ingredients:

1 lbs Chicken or Shrimp

1 tbsp Garlic, chopped
1 tbsp Ginger, chopped
1/4 cup Curd or Plain Yogurt
1 cup Table Cream or Heavy Whipping
4 cups Tomato Puree
1/2 Red Onion Chopped
1 bunch Coriander Leaves, chopped
1 Lemon, squeezed
2 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Olive Oil, for cooking
1/2 tsp Salt

Seasoning
2 tbsp Garam Masala
1 to 2 tbsp Red Chili Powder, to taste(spicy)
2 tbsp Cumin Powder
1 tsp Tumeric Powder
2 tbsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Fenugreek Powder or Leaves(preferred)
1 tbsp Cardamom Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1/2 tsp Clove, ground

Salt and Pepper to Taste

I use half of the garlic and ginger, all of the curd/yogurt, lemon juice, salt, and 2 heaping tbsp’s of the seasoning mix to marinade the chicken or shrimp. I use approximately 4 heaping tbsp of the seasoning mix for the sauce but you need to play that by ear and adjust the salt and pepper to taste. Just be sure to watch the short video tutorial so that you can see exactly how to make this Chicken Tikka Masala.

Chinese Barbecue Sauce – P.F. Chang’s China Bistro Recipe

The Best Barbecue Sauce

This Chinese Barbecue Sauce is based on P.F. Chang’s recipe which is used in several different menu items, including: Spare Ribs, Pork Medallion and their Barbecue Chicken Salad. I’ve taken the exact Restaurant size recipe and dumbed it down to a house hold portion. And when I said this recipe is “based” on the Corporate recipe, I mean, it’s more or less the exact same one, only I cut the sugar in half.

The Barbecue Sauce Breakdown

Chang’s makes 5 gallons of this sauce at a time and 2 1/2 gallons of it is sugar. That’s just ridiculous. Half of their recommended sugar amount still gets you a fantastic BBQ sauce. So rest assured, knowing now, that you have everything you need to know about the China Bistro’s Barbecue Sauce Recipe!

I’ve also got their Spare Rib Recipe and their Northern Style Short Ribs Ribs recipe already filmed and posted below. And if you’re interested in my Oven Baked Ribs, those are listed here as well.

CLICK HERE for Barbecue Spare Ribs
CLICK HERE for Northern Style Short Ribs
CLICK HERE for Oven Baked Ribs

Chinese Barbecue Sauce Ingredients:

1 qt Ketchup
1 cup Hoisin Sauce
1 cup Plum Sauce
2 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp Five Spice Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda

This recipe makes 2 quarts of Chinese Barbecue Sauce.

Rice Noodle Spring Rolls

So what’s the difference between an Egg Roll and a Spring Roll and why do people confuse Summer Rolls with Spring Rolls? Well, I think the main thing to look at is that they are all rolled in a wrapper with vegetables and they are all fried. Except for the Summer Roll, which is a Korean Roll many confuse for the Spring Roll but Spring Rolls are fried! The easiest way to remember is this: Egg Rolls are bigger, Spring Rolls are small and Summer Rolls are soft and see through. The best part is, you can put anything you want in any of them. Sure there’s a few traditions but you literally could go breakfast burrito in any one of these rolls if you really wanted to.

Rice Noodle Spring Roll Ingredients:

1 qt boiling water
2 Rice noodles
1 Nori Sheet
Cilantro, freshly chopped
1 Garlic Clove, chopped
2 tbsp Cooking Oil
8 oz Ground Pork, cooked
Salt and Pepper too taste
2 tbsp Tempura Dipping Sauce (1 part ea. Soy, Sugar, Water, White Vinegar)
1 pkg Spring Roll Wrappers
1/4 cup Water for wetting Wrappers
Oil for Frying

Boil water and Poor over Rice Noodle in a separate bowl. Let it sit for 5 minutes then strain and add 1 tbsp cooking oil to prevent sticking. Cut Nori into fours then stack and cut with scissors into shoe string slices. Chop Cilantro and Garlic. Cook pork with 1 tbsp of cooking oil and add garlic half way through cooking and salt and pepper to taste. Combine the Rice Noodle with cut Nori, Cilantro, Pork and Tempura Dipping Sauce and mix thoroughly. Add 2 to 3 tbsp of the mixed Rice Noodle Ingredients to the center of 1 Spring Roll Wrapper. Starting with the back corner, fold over the top and tuck the ingredients back so they are snug. Fold the left and right sides in at 90 degree angles and roll forward half way. Wet the last corner with a finger dab of water in an envelope fashion, then complete the rolling and apply light pressure in the center of the roll to ensure it won’t come apart in the fryer. Fry at 350 degrees for approximately 3 minutes. Let them cool on Paper towels before serving with Sweet and Sour or Orange Chili Sauce.