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.