dinner reipe

Chicken Tikka Masala

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Chicken Tikka MasalaChicken Tikka Masala is a quintessential north Indian dish that has wide popularity here in US as well. Tikka means small pieces of meat mixed with spices. So Chicken Tikka Masala is a dish made of small pieces of chicken cooked with spices in a gravy.
Chicken Tikka MasalaTraditionally, Chicken Tikka Masala is made first by baking chicken tikka (here is the recipe for Chicken Tikka) using skewers in a tandoor (cylindrical clay or metal oven) and then using that tikka to prepare the gravy (masala). In my preparation method given below, I had used conventional oven for baking the chicken tikka. The taste of Chicken Tikka Masala is mostly dependent on the marinade that you make.
Chicken Tikka MasalaAs I had mentioned earlier, Chicken Tikka Masala is universally popular and is very easy to make. The origin of this dish is unclear, with various proponents claiming its invention. In fact there was even a motion set to be passed in the UK parliament to give geographically protected status for Chicken Tikka Masala in the UK (Glasgow, I believe). Good that it did not happen since I personally believe that Chicken Tikka Masala originated in India (ofcourse :))
Chicken Tikka MasalaI would say Chicken Tikka Masala is two dishes combined in to one, i.e., chicken tikka and the Chicken Tikka Masala. You can serve the chicken tikka as is as an appetizer and the Chicken Tikka Masala as an entree dish.Try this widely popular and very tasty Indian 🙂 dish and let me know your wonderful experiences, as always…

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Chicken tikka masala
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 3
 
Ingredients
  • Cashews – 1 tbsp (soaked in water for half an hour)
  • Cinnamon stick – 1”
  • Cloves – 3 nos
  • Green Cardamom – 2 nos
  • Bay leaf – 1 no
  • Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp
  • Onion – 1 no (cut into cubes)
  • Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
  • Tomato – 1 no (cut into cubes)
  • Green pepper – 1 no (cut into cubes)
  • Green chilli – 3 nos
  • Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
  • Cumin powder – ½ tsp
  • Kashmiri chilli powder – ½ tbsp
  • Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
  • Salt – as required
  • Cooked chicken tikka – 1 cup
  • Lemon juice – 2 tbsp
  • Fresh cream – 2 to 3 tbsp
  • Coriander leaves – for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Add soaked cashews with few pieces of onions and tomatoes in a blender, make a paste and keep it aside.
  2. Heat a wide open pan with a tbsp of oil. Add cumin seeds and whole spices. Once you get the nice aroma of cumin seeds and whole spices, add chopped onions. Sauté it and cook till the onions turns brown.
  3. Add a tbsp of ginger-garlic paste and stir fry till the raw aroma of ginger-garlic disappears
  4. Add the chopped tomatoes and green pepper. Cook the tomatoes until they are soft and pulpy.
  5. Add coriander powder, kashmiri red chilli powder, cumin powder, turmeric, salt and little water. Sauté for a minute.
  6. Add cashew paste. Cook until the oil oozes out.
  7. Now add in the cubes of cooked chicken tikka and mix well. Pour in some water if the mixture is dry.
  8. Add in cream and sprinkle some chopped coriander leaves and lime juice and mix it well.
  9. The tasty chicken tikka masala is ready to be served with hot butter naan or rumali roti.

Chicken Tikka Masala

ADAI

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Adai dosaAdai is a dosa like dish synonymous to Tamilnadu (specifically from Chettinad cuisine, I believe) and is made using different varieties of Dal (Moong, Urad and Channa). It is a very healthy dish and usually eaten for breakfast and sometimes for dinner. I started making Adai mainly as an alternative to dosa. For dosa, as you know, the main ingredient to make the batter is rice and rice is rich in carbohydrates which in turn is one of the contributing factors in weight gain (if the intake is often, of course).
062My HB is very health conscious (and that has rubbed off on me as well, sometimes ;)) and so I started my search for a healthy and easy alternative for the usual fares that we have at our home. Then I came across this Adai from the web and found it to be the perfect alternative. Making the Adai batter does not involve fermentation. So the entire process of preparing the batter to cooking Adai is very quick. Also, you don’t need a grinder to prepare the batter. A blender will suffice.
068In our home, we normally have Adai with coconut chutney but by making the batter a little bit spicy (described in the cooking instructions below), you can have Adai without a side dish (how awesome is that!). In restaurants, Adai is often served with butter and Avial (another south Indian dish for which I will post the recipe sometime soon).
So try this very healthy and easy to make Adai in your home and let me know your comments.

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ADAI
Recipe type: Breakfast/Dinner
Cuisine: Indian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8
 
Adai is a dosa like dish synonymous to Tamilnadu (specifically from Chettinad cuisine, I believe) and is made using different varieties of Dal (Moong, Urad and Channa). It is a very healthy dish and usually eaten for breakfast and sometimes for dinner.
Ingredients
  • Toor dal - ¼cup
  • Moong dal -1/4 cup
  • Urad dal - ½ cup
  • Idli Rice or Raw Rice - ½ cup
  • Whole Red chillies - 6
  • Salt-as per taste
  • Shallots(small onions) – 2 (chopped)
  • Hing - 1 tsp
  • Cumin seeds - 1 tbs
  • Chopped Coriander leaves – ¼ cup
  • Water as required
  • Oil required to smear around adais
Instructions
  1. Wash and soak urad dal, moong dal, toor dal and rice together in water for 4 hours.
  2. Grind the soaked dals and rice, along with half a tsp cumin seeds, whole red chilli, salt and hing together until smooth. - like dosa batter.
  3. To the ground adai batter add chopped shallots, coriander leaves and little water.
  4. Mix well the batter, the consistency should be similar to dosa batter. Set aside the adai batter to rest for atleast 30 mins.
  5. Heat a dosa tawa, add a ladle full of adai batter to the center of tawa and start spreading the batter from center in circular motion like making dosa or pancakes.
  6. Smear 1 tsp oil around adai and cook on medium heat until both sides of adai are golden brown and crisp.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 2 to 3

Adai dosa