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Bomb Tikka Masala Sauce

October 10, 2016 2 Comments

Friends, I’ve been holding out on you. I’m guilty of recipe hoarding with this fab, anything but ordinary, bomb tikka masala sauce. I’ve have this in my draft box for weeks, while life just got the best of my time. But I will hoard no more, even if it means breaking out of my whole30 challenge bubble and posting a recipe other that was not originally a whole30 one (note: can be made whole30 compliant). This sauce, oh this sauce, is something I can’t wait to eat again- and I certainly couldn’t wait to share with you. Especially when the masala sauce goes double duty in chicken tikka masala enchiladas. WHAAAAAAAAAAA???? I can’t even. Just you wait, my friends. JUST. YOU. WAIT.

I never knew what tikka masala anything was until I was an adult. I know. ME. An wholly raised Indian, raised in the most traditional of ways never met tikka masala until later in life. To my credit, tikka masala isn’t actually ‘authentically’ indian. Such deception, in the creamiest of ways. It lures you in with promise of rich comfort and keeps you interested with its complex, tomatoey and nutty flavors. And you’re like , HELLO, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE? Just like that, you’ve been spoiled for the rest of your life thinking you’re having something authentically indian. Then your world shatters when you find out that it’s deceit. But I’m here to tell you, it’ll be okay. Tikka masala is so good, it doesn’t matter that it’s actually a British creation. It’s tikka masala sauce; all can be forgiven.

My most critical critic comes in the form of a 5 -year-old. The Little Diva would thrive reviewing food for a living. She has never been one to shy away from giving a 100% unbiased review of my cooking, followed by a very encouraging “don’t worry- you’ll get the recipe right eventually. EVENTUALLY!” as she happily skips off to play. When I watched her eyes grow wider and then a huge grin appeared on her face, I knew the tikka masala sauce simmering away on the stove had been conquered. The secret is in the paste, with freshly ground spices and a nutty base. Tikka masala paste, you’ve been put on notice. You are delicious.

Does it take a little bit of time to make? Yes. Will you love it and love me for it later? Absolutely. Make the paste once and have it ready in the fridge for a couple of weeks or in the freezer for six months. The payoff and the wow factor make this masala sauce worth breaking that sweat. So go on, flex those culinary muscles, whip up a batch and invite your family and friends over for a friday night dinner. With the tikka masala paste in hand, you’ll be cooking like a boss.

Tikka masala paste is very versatile. You can go full cream and make a very rich and decadent sauce. I find that when I substitute milk for a part of the cream, it makes for a lighter, but still just as flavorful sauce. Want to make it vegan//paleo//whole30 compliant? Easy peasy. add canned coconut milk in place of the milk and cream. Full fat coconut milk will make this sauce creamy and rich while a reduced-fat version will give you a lighter sauce. For a vegetarian version, add lightly fried pieces of paneer; for a vegan version, pan-fried tofu cubes. And for the omnivores, boneless marinated pieces of chicken (in the paste) make this the ultimate chicken tikka masala. The possibilities are really endless here. I’m thinkin’ leftover thanksgiving turkey tikka masala. Or the chicken tikka enchiladas I’ll be posting. #drool.

You know how I’m always pushing to toast your spices? TOAST those spices because toasted spices —> winning sauce. Toasting spices draws out oils in nuts and concentrates flavor. In spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, it heavily perfumes the mixture and less becomes more. So the takeaway from this toasting conversation: toasting= winning at flavor ✨. If you can’t find the spices required to make garam masala, usually stocked at south asian grocery stores, pre-ground garam masala is readily available at most stores this days. Go ahead, use it- judgement free zone here.

You’ll end up with an orangish thick paste, with flecks of green and red. Love that green. That green, my friends, is the fresh and bold mint and cilantro that perks up your taste buds and creates the mmmmmmmm! lip smackability factor. I get it, you’re tired, you’re hungry– you want deliciousness for dinner. A quick deliciousness that wipes away the work week and transports you into an indian restaurant (or your mom’s kitchen) and as you use your warm, chewy naan to sop up this bomb sauce, you know you’ve hit the culinary jackpot. Go ahead, do the macarena and celebrate like the 90s are back.

Anything But Ordinary Tikka Masala Sauce

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 45 mins
Yield: 2 cups masala 1x

Scale

Ingredients

FOR THE TIKKA MASALA PASTE:
5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
3 tbsp garam masaala (recipe follows)
3” knob ginger, peeled and sliced
2 onions, peeled and quartered (I used one red and one white)
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 cup, roughly chopped cilantro
1/2 cup mint, roughly chopped
juice of 1 lemon and zest
1/2 cup unsalted almonds
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
2 tsp turmeric
3 tsp salt
1 tsp red chili powder
FOR THE MASALA SAUCE:
2/3 to 1 cup tikka masala paste (less paste to keep it more mild)
3 cups milk
1/2 cup cream (to make vegan/whole30/paleo compliant, use coconut milk and water to equal 3/12 cups of liquid)
8 oz tomato sauce
2 tbsp cooking fat such as coconut oil/ghee/vegetable oil
FOR GARAM MASALA:
2 tbsp coriander
2 cinnamon sticks
1 tsp allspice berries
2 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp green cardamom pods
2–3 black cardamom pods

Instructions

MAKE THE GARAM MASALA. In a dry pan, over high heat, toast all the spices for the garam masala until fragrant, 2-3 minutes tossing occasionally to prevent burning. Please in a spice grinder or coffee grinder and grind into a fine powder. Store tightly covered at room temperature for up to 1 year.
TOAST THE ALMONDS AND COCONUT. In the same dry pan, toast the almonds and coconut until the coconut becomes golden brown and releases a nutty fragrance. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
PUREE ALL TIKKA MASALA INGREDIENTS. Place the toasted almonds, coconut, and all remaining ingredients into a food processor and pulse until you have a mostly smooth paste. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to three weeks and in the freezer for up to six months.
MAKE THE MASALA SAUCE: Heat cooking fat in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once fat is heated, add 2/3 to a full cup of the tikka masala paste, depending on your spice preference. Saute until the paste is fully cooked and begins to separate from the fat, about 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and let cook for 1-2 minutes. Add milk and cream, or coconut milk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add grilled chicken/tofu/paneer if desired*.
Serve with white rice and/or naan.

Notes

*if adding chicken, marinate cubed chicken in 1/3 cup tikka masala paste for at least 1/2 hour and grill or cook stovetop until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Chopped Nicoise Salad

May 31, 2016 Leave a Comment

If you’re anything like me, you spent your Memorial Day weekend being a little too indulgent. And now, with the week ahead of me, all I really want is a nice leafy, green, fresh salad. Enter the nicoise salad. As in THIS nicoise salad. I’m gonna be real here for a minute and tell you that I’ve made this salad mutiple times and may have had it for two days straight, every. single. meal.

How gorg is this perfectly summertime salad, with its fresh veggies and greens? And did I mention the herby goodness? This is a mid-week pause worthy dinner. As in, forget the takeout/delivery, make dinner like a boss in no time, and enjoy those warm fuzzies because you just had a knock-your-socks off low carb, healthy, grownup, classy meal. All without breaking the bank and without spending a lot of time in the kitchen– exactly what I need right now with my packed week!

Summer is the time to enjoy the outdoors, bbq, run around the with the kiddos, and soak up some much needed (& deserved) sun. Because this is life. This is REAL life. And real life deserves food that isn’t fussy. Like going through your cabinets and finding a can of tuna. What the heck can you do with a can of tuna other than tuna salad? And omg the fishy smell- I’m not a fan and I suspect you’re not either. But this nicoise salad takes an ordinary can of tuna, blends it with giardiniera peppers and fresh, fresh, fresh herbs and it’s not the same 15 cent can of tuna you got on sale three months ago. It’s tart, flavorful, and bold. Of course, you can adjust the amount of peppers to your spice preference but I personally follow the ‘leave no pepper behind’ school of thought.

I know there are nicoise purists out there, rolling their eyes because this isn’t exactly a classical nicoise salad. But of the handful of the readers who know me in real life know that there is absolutely nothing old school about me, other than my taste in cookware. I can’t help it; I have never been able to follow a recipe. Something about doctoring it up to make it my own has always been my road because, after all, food is a part of my narrative and it’s deeply personal. That’s also probably why I will never be a top notch baker save banana bread and doughnuts, and even the doughnuts aren’t baked. But regular can be boring, amiright? And I’m 1,000% okay with all of it. Especially if it means I have this salad in my life.

No, I won’t settle for a deconstructed salad. Certainly, it makes for a beautiful presentation but my updated and more modern twist is so much more fun and practical ?. You get to toss in so much bright, vibrant color with fresh tomatoes, perhaps from the teeming summer garden and those of us who don’t have a summer garden will be so jealous but not in a i-hate-you sorta way. More of a in-awe-of-you sorta way. And while you’re at it, grab liberal handfuls of those sweet smelling herbs you have tucked away back there. Go on, your salad is waiting!

Guys, this is heaven. And if you’re like me and haven’t quite had the time to get the gardening started, store-bought is perfectly acceptable, and even encouraged because we are all rockstars this summer ?! Just let those colors hang out all over plate and mingle. We encourage mingling here.

So the thing about nicoise salad that’s always been a deal-breaker for me has been the anchovies. If you are a lover of anchovies in their whole form, I applaud your courage and daredevilish nature. I’m fine with anchovies blended into sauces and dressings, where they add a lot of saltiness and richness to the dish. But I stop at eating them whole. My compromise for this salad was to chop them up and toss them in with the rest of the ingredients so I don’t have to worry about getting a giant piece in a bite. That worked for me but if you don’t love it or get queasy thinking about them, just leave them out. But don’t let the presence of anchovies be the deciding factor in your nicoise game. This is one of the places where the purists and I differ. See, we can still get along.

The eggs are the most understated ingredient in this salad. I’m gonna let you in on a little secret; until recently, I hadn’t ever had a full, hard-boiled egg in my life. One of my earliest memories is of me hating hard-boiled eggs. I’m so serious; what kind of deranged person doesn’t like hard-boiled eggs?! The greyish ring between the yolk and whites is a major turn off- especially when you think that’s the norm. But guys, hard-boiled eggs aren’t actually supposed to have that ring. I had a life-changing experience when I made and ate a perfectly, bright yellow yolked hard-boiled egg. It was one of the things I had to master as a food blogger because food blogging is lyfe! Cover the eggs with cold water, about two inches higher, on high heat, bring the eggs to a rolling boil for exactly one minute. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand for 5-7 minutes, depending on how set you like the eggs. For me, five minutes is perfect. Drain the hot water and cover with cold water, then start peeling.

This salad = winning. It is so much ridiculous amounts of winning at life. You know what else=winning? I will now be providing nutritional info for most of my recipes, on each blog post, so you don’t have to go plug in the data anywhere else. And for the more indulgent goodies, don’t be mad when you see the info. I heard you, and continue to hear each of you, when you make requests for recipes, improvements, or ask for advice in general. And a lot of you have requested nutritional info so scroll down, all the way at the bottom of the post, and there it will be. I’ll be working in the few weeks to add the same label to all the older recipes.