3000 miles 'til dinner.

Original MIL Mission #55: Chicken Tikka

I love Indian food. And when it comes to eating Indian cuisine, I usually end up ordering the same 5 items – saag paneer (spinach with cheese), gobi aloo (cauliflower with potatoes), basmati rice, naan bread, and… you guessed it, chicken tikka masala. Now I assumed this recipe was going to be similar to chicken tikka masala so I was super excited to try out an Indian dish!

♥HOW I MADE IT.♥

The ingredients.

Thank goodness MIL stocked my pantry with spices! This recipe uses a myriad of different spices that I probably wouldn’t have on hand without her in my life. I had all the spices except for turmeric. But according to the wing-it’s, I could substitute with the other spices and ne’er could tell the difference.

So I confidently winged it and felt that my past year and a half of cooking experience gave me enough skills to eyeball everything. My spice concoction.

So using my trusty Cuisinart, I pulsed the garlic and ginger and then added cilantro, spices, lemon juice and yogurt – mixing it all together into a nice, creamy sauce. I used chicken breast pieces and stuck them in a ziploc bag to marinate during the day. I actually prepared the dish in the morning before work so the chicken would marinate all day in the fridge – props for me thinking ahead!

Later on that evening…

It was so easy to take out the marinated chicken and just bake! I baked the chicken in the oven since the grill is the hubby’s domain.

♥MIL MISSION #50: ACCOMPLISHED.♥ 

I served the chicken tikka with basmati rice and sautéed spinach (not Indian spiced, but just cooked with some onions and garlic). I was excited to try my first Indian dish! So the hubby and I took our first bite, and after a few moments… we just looked at each other with an inquisitive expression. This did NOT taste like the chicken tikka I have grown to know and love.

Bottom line: I think my wing-it with the spices didn’t quite work out. I’m not sure what spice it was, but there was an overwhelming licorice taste to the chicken. And it was SUPER spicy. And I like spicy. But this was too much.

So much for confident eyeballing.

Needless to say, we finished our meal, but I wouldn’t call it delicious. My chicken was a bit overdone too. I wanted to give it a chance though and thought the spices might settle down the next day, so I packed leftovers for lunch the next day. And nope, next day… same experience, same taste.

Oh well. *sigh*

I suppose this attempt should be chalked up to a lesson learned. But I definitely want to try this recipe again and fiddle with the spices. And oh yes, it will be better next time.

♥PLATE IT, ATE IT, GRADED IT.♥ 

scale: 0 (not at all) to 5 (very) 

Cupboard to table time: Approximately 11 hours (35 minutes of prep/baking time, the rest for marinating time)

Difficulty: 1 

Deliciousness: 2

Impressed Husband factor: 1 (yeah, not so much.)

Leftover-friendly: 3