My husband is a serious lover of Indian foods. He regularly complains that he was born in the wrong country because our food is simply too boring for his tastes. He eats out at Indian restaurants as often as he can (which is not often enough). I hate to admit it, but up until this past week, I have never attempted to cook Indian cuisine. I’m not sure why – I am a confident cook, so why not?
Pinterest inspired me to change that trend, and my entire family is saying hallelujah, and I am now on the search for more Indian-style meals that I can prepare. (seriously – even my picky 6 year old son would not stop eating this meal!)
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp cumin
- ¼-1 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on the amount of spice you like)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 8-10 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 12-15 oz jar tikka masala simmer sauce (found near Indian foods in the grocery store)
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Place marinade ingredients into a large plastic zip-close bag. Mix the sauce together.
- Cut chicken thighs into bite-sized chunks and place into bag with marinade. Zip the bag closed and place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to overnight.
- After the chicken has had a chance to marinate, turn your oven on to broil and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.
- Place chicken under the broiler (not too close - mine was about 6 inches away from the heating element) and heat, turning chicken over once, until the chicken looks browned on both sides. The chicken does not need to be cooked through at this point.
- Put the browned chicken into the crock pot and cover with the masala simmer sauce and cook on low for 4-8 hours.
- During the last hour, add one cup of cream to the chicken/sauce and stir.
- Serve over yellow basmati rice and peas (or just regular rice) with some naan bread on the side.
Note: This recipe is based on a recipe I found, through Pinterest, from Meal Planning 101. She made her own sauce, but since I happened to find a really tasty masala sauce at the grocery store, I figured I’d skip that step. I didn’t take a picture of the jar of masala sauce, but it was very similar to this Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce found on Amazon. If you can’t find the masala sauce at your store, meal Planning 101 has a from-scratch version, too.
I also chose to use boneless chicken thighs instead of bone-in, skin-on chicken.
Yellow Basmati Rice with Peas:
I followed Meal Planning 101’s advice and made my rice like I normally would (ie, in my rice cooker) but added 1/2 tbsp of turmeric and some salt to taste, along with a pinch of saffron, which consequently, my kids call “daddy’s nose hairs.” About 10 minutes before I was ready to serve, I added a cup of frozen peas.
I used this naan bread recipe from Indianfood.about.com. It was pretty yummy but didn’t look a thing like the naan bread we eat at restaurants.
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I don’t have a crock pot, how would I do this on a stove top???
The chicken masala looks so good i crave for it right now thank you for sharing the recipe.
I am soooo excited to try this! This is always my favorite at Indian restaurants. I have tried buying sauce in a jar and other recipes but none have been quite right. This looks great and simple to make. I think I will replace the jalapeno with a little green pepper. I seem to remember green pepper being in my favorite restaurant’s version.
I am from Malaysia but never really learned to cook the delicious food we have there… I think I’ll bookmark and try your version of this dish, it looks manageable, and there’s only *one* Indian restaurant here in Springfield IL, its food it just … okay … so knowing how to produce something like this would be awesome! Surprisingly, we have a gazillion Thai restaurants here, so I have plenty of access to most of the type of heat/spiciness I crave and miss so much :)
totally going to try this one next time I make it. And there will be a next time. My 6 year old loves it, too!
That looks really good. My 12-year old loves indian food, and particularly tikka masala. I’m pinning this to my board!
I ADORE Indian food! Thanks for the recipe! :)
Looks good and also looks like my boys would like this one. I’m always on the look out for a dinner idea that pleases everyone at the table!