CTM and Naan Indian Grill-less Supercombo

Prelude

Tonight’s adventure is Chicken Tikka Masala (or CTM as Cali people call it) and Josh’s naan recipe.  The CTM is also based on an allrecipes.com recipe, but modified to 1) feed twice as many people 2) not use a grill 3) not have a gross amount of salt.  I am doing both at the same time by cleverly utilizing the inherent gaps in both recipes… this may not end well.  The CTM is pretty much restaurant quality IMO — I would say the only place where I’ve had better was Milan in C-ville [Edit: and Flavors of India in Rockridge CA, I must admit].  I haven’t ever made naan by myself before (or really baked anything other than brownies and cornbread from the box…), so we’ll see how it goes.

CTM Ingrediants

Meat: 3-4 Boneless/skinless chicken breasts, cut into bit-size pieces

For the marinade:

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt

For the sauce:

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1+ jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon tumeric
• 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste
• cayenne pepper to taste (or more jalapenos)
• 1 (29 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 3 1/2 cups heavy cream (oh yeah)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

CTM Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and salt. Thread chicken bits onto skewers, coat in yogurt mixture, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat the grill (I use the oven broiler).
3. Take the chickened skewers from the fridge and discard the marinade. Grill/broil until juices run clear, about 5 minutes on each side. In the oven I use a pan to catch the drippings (see Figure 2).
4. Melt butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat (I use our wok). Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Add cumin, paprika, and salt and mix around until it gets clumpy. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 20 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 10 minutes. Here I add tumeric, cayenne and salt to taste. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro.
5. Profit

Om Naan Naan Report

This worked out pretty well overall.  I just followed the directions, but doubled all of the amounts.  Instead of a grill I just used a well-buttered skillet. The first few pieces weren’t rolled flat enough and so ended up kind of biscuit-like.  The later ones were better but still a bit chewy in consistency rather than light and fluffy. Perhaps I was too lazy with the kneading. Any suggestions from real bakers?

Timing

Interleaving the two worked pretty well, starting with making the dough.  Overall it took about 3 hours, but a lot of that time was grilling the naan at the end.  Traditionally I can pump out a CTM in about 75 minutes (shortening the marinade time to 30 min).

In conclusion, indian food is delicious and you can make it at home.