Phew. And I’m down to the wire with my “publish once a month” schedule! The last time I sent one of these newsletters out, I was mid-milk bread baking, and I’m glad to report that it went very well and was extremely delicious. I’ve taken this as a sign that I should branch out and try making other breads. But like last time, I’m here with an actual recipe that has nothing to do with bread. It’s an old blog recipe that I cooked again this last weekend after not having made it for some time, and it turned out so wonderful that I had to resurface it for you.
RECIPE: Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
There are a lot of theories about the origins of chicken tikka masala, but one thing most of us know is that it’s a dish often available in (North) Indian restaurants. It was never really something that was served at home growing up, though I ordered it plenty while eating out. A few years, I saw a post on The Kitchn (which seems to have updated its recipe since) that adapted the dish for the slow cooker, and I decided to try it out with a few modifications of my own (including marinating the chicken in yogurt, which was not originally recommended, but is now also suggested by The Kitchn). Here’s how I do it:
Ingredients:
Serves about 6
For marinade
1/2 tablespoon yogurt per chicken thigh
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of salt
Juice of 1/2 lime
Main ingredients
1.5 pounds boneless chicken thighs (add a bit more if you want the dish less "saucy")
1 large red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon garam masala (or slightly more depending on how strong your blend is)
1 to 2 teaspoons red chili powder (I tend to use about half a teaspoon of deggi mirch)*
2 teaspoons salt
28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
3/4 cup heavy cream
Fresh cilantro, chopped (for garnish)
Instructions
1. Mix up the marinade ingredients (yogurt, coriander, cumin, salt and juice from lime) evenly in a glass bowl.
2. Cut chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces and submerge in marinade for about 2 to 6 hours — place the bowl in the refrigerator.
3. Following the marination break: Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker. There's no need to dump any excess from the yogurt marinade in.
4. Stir in onion, garlic, ginger, tomato paste, garam masala, chili powder of choice and salt until chicken is evenly covered.
5. Stir in the crushed tomatoes.
6. Cover slow cooker and cook on high for four hours.**
7. Fifteen minutes before the end of cooking time, stir in the heavy cream — you can leave the slow cooker uncovered in these final 15 minutes for a thicker sauce. (You may also need to add a bit more salt and garam masala once everything's done cooking, depending on the taste/strength of your spices).
8. Sprinkle fresh cilantro over each serving. You can serve the chicken over basmati rice or with roti or naan.
Notes
* If you want to make this dish spicier, you could add a touch more chili powder or possibly incorporate a sliced up green chili in the mix.
** My slow cooker is a '90s-era machine without many modern trappings. If you have a newer model, your slow cooker may heat things up a little faster. If it's your first time making this dish, I would advise at least checking on the chicken by the three-hour mark (and perhaps even once before that) to avoid overcooking.
This recipe can be refrigerated for three to four days. The original recipe said it could also be frozen for three to four months, but I haven't tried that.
Adapted from The Kitchn.
Bites of Culture
It’s been a hectic month — in the news, for personal reasons and more, so I’m keeping this month’s newsletter a little shorter than usual (though the instructions above are pretty lengthy!). But there’s always time for pop culture in my life, so…
I watched Soleil Moon Frye’s Kid 90, which was fairly compelling (though also very sad), and it threw me down the rabbit hole of…. a Felicity rewatch of all things. (Thank you to Hulu for suggesting it and knowing exactly what would hit the spot.) I’ve weirdly enjoyed references to old iMacs, “this program called Photoshop” and a plot point involving the first PlayStation — and also just how serious everything is.
And separately, we finally jumped on the Schitt’s Creek bandwagon after having it languish in Netflix queue-land forever. I am enjoying it, though I’m not quite in “quote every episode” territory.
On the book front, I devoured Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom within 24 hours and am currently making my way through a collection of Elizabeth Taylor (no, not that Elizabeth Taylor) short stories called You’ll Enjoy It When You Get There. If you haven’t heard of her, I suggest you look into her work!
Thanks for reading this edition of Rad Dishes! You can follow me on my occasionally updated Instagram account and my extremely irregularly updated Twitter. A streamlined version of Rad Dishes (the original food blog) is here.