Chicken Tikka Masala

I don't understand why this and butter chicken recipes never have vegetables in them. I was first served butter chicken with peas, onions and red peppers, along with cashews and golden raisins and plenty of fresh, minced ginger. Often with a side of cauliflower. Have these recipes been stripped down for Americans, or doesn't anyone include veggies?

I wouldn't worry about authenticity or lack thereof: there is nothing authentic about Chicken Tikka Masala, unless you're talking about it being authentically British.

My wife came home from three weeks in India craving the cuisine. This one more than scratched that itch and made me a hero! I have no idea how authentic it is or isn't, but it sure is tasty! I love the NYT Cooking pages and as always try to make the recipes exactly as written on the first try. I did that for this one as well and highly recommend that approach. It's hard for me to make changes if I don't first know what I'm trying to change.

It's a British dish originally, not an Indian one, which is probably why you had it with peas. Actual Indian curries tend to be either vegetarian or meat-based; there are chopped up veggies in the sauce but generally they do not mix meat and vegetables together like you would in a stir fry or like you see in curries if you go further east. Vindaloo (which is itself fusion cuisine, though of older provenance) has potatoes, but that's about it.

Really excellent flavour albeit mild. Nice citrus play in the background of a well spiced dish. Make sure your yogurt is room temp before adding at the end of the dish to prevent it from separating in the hot tomato sauce.

Tried this recipe and it’s good. But I’d recommend Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe, at least for the sauce. The time I spent chopping and sautéing onions is better used toasting and then grinding about a tablespoon of whole cumin. And this recipe needs more butter, and some fresh ground ginger. These three ingredients transform this dish from pleasant to superb.

I’ve made this recipe, and it is fine. I made two things different, though. To make a really good Tikka Masala sauce you have to caramelize the onions, which takes A LOT longer than 5-8 min, more like an hour. I used two big Vidalia onions, threw in the garlic after 30 min or so. 30 min later I added 1 heaping tsp of garam masala. Then added everything else for sauce and simmer, puréed with “magic stick” and added cream. A little honey for sweetness if desired. Yum yum. Thanks NYT.

So many suggestions for this dish I love so much! Three quick ones: 1) Use a good garam masala. Types and quality vary a ton. Go to an Indian grocery and ask what's best. I use Deep brand. 2) Sour cream in the marinade adds a richness. I do a 1:1, yogurt:sour cream ratio. 3) Underspicing seems chronic in tikka masala. This one seems it could use a boost, too, by at least 25%.

This is an excellent recipe and I will definitely make it again. To cut back on calories and fat, I substituted 2% milk for the heavy cream. The recipe says to remove the extra marinade from the chicken before placing the meat under the broiler, but I did not do this; the meat was extra moist and tasty. I served this dish with both rice and homemade naan. My guests loved it!

Delicious, only marinated for 4 hours, still yielded great flavor. I used 2% greek yogurt and almond milk instead of whole milk yogurt and cream, which worked just fine.

We Indians don't use tomato paste or puree from cans or tubes, we add fresh chopped tomatoes instead. It brings in completely different flavor. But one of the most important ingredients is missing: Fenugreek leaves! Also, grill the chicken pieces so that they have char marks.

Yes. You're marinating raw chicken.

What happens to the marinade? Does itgettossed?

I made this with coconut cream and coconut yogurt instead of using any dairy and it was wonderful. Also added peas and carrots and peppers. Next time, I’ll roast cauliflower along with the chicken.

I almost always add peas and other veggies to these recipes. I didn’t do it today when I cooked this for the first time, but next time, I think I will.