Chicken Tikka Masala

I have a confession to make... I watch The Bachelor. In my defense, I spend about 95% of the time making fun of the people who are on the show, but regardless I know I may have just lost some respect points with some of you. This is a consequence I'm willing to accept.

Every Monday night, I get together with a group of really awesome girls (and one guy who shall now and forever remain nameless for the sake of his manhood) to view this riveting two-hours of television. We take turns hosting and making dinner, and this week was my turn! 

I figured the best way to feed a large group was with a crock pot meal, so I decided to go with one that had been on my "Recipes to Make" pinboard for quite some time... Chicken Tikka Masala! I must admit, as much as I love Indian food, I've only dabbled with cooking it myself a few times as the list of ingredients usually totally intimidates me, but this recipe from LaLoosh looked totally manageable and so I followed it pretty closely. The main changes I made were that I increased the proportions by 2.5x to make enough for all my guests, used ginger powder because I didn't have any fresh ginger, and, because I was short one jalapeno and I me love some spice, I left the seeds/membranes on one of them for some extra kick. I also made extra brown rice and served with a dollop of plain greek yogurt. 

The night before, I chopped all the veggies and mixed everything but the chicken so it'd be ready to go in the morning. As you can see, things got a little crazy that night in the kitchen... (I was also prepping the appetizer -- roasted cauliflower yogurt dip with homemade tortilla chips, which I'll be sharing with you in a future post -- and created a recipe for a giant pot of soup I used for my lunches for the week, which I'll also be blogging about soon!) 

The next morning, I put the chicken in the crock pot, topped with the veggie mixture, and turned it on low. I checked it after four hours and because there was SO much in the crock pot, it wasn't really cooking yet. So I cranked it up to high for the next 2 hrs and 15 minutes. When I came back to check it again, I found it had overflowed (oops!) but was definitely getting good and tender. However, I needed to add some extra salt and because it seemed a bit too liquidy though, I broke up the chicken to absorb some of the flavor and mixed in some cornstarch to thicken the sauce. At this point, I turned it down to low and cooked for another hour and 45 minutes. Now, it's not necessary for you to follow these exact times, but I would suggest checking on it at some point before you intend on serving to break up the chicken into smaller pieces and see if you should add cornstarch. The original recipe suggests 6-8 hours on low or 4 on high for 4 servings so the times will really depend on how much you make. 

As the apartment now smelled overwhelmingly like an Indian restaurant, we were eager to dig in! However, if you're more patient than we were, it's probably best if you let it rest a little. Scoop your Chicken Tikka Masala on top of some brown rice and top with cilantro and greek yogurt. And there you have it -- Indian food made easy! 

The bachelor gang ready to dig in!

Crock Pot Chicken Tikka Masala

(makes approximately 8 servings) 

23oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 - 3 1/2 cups brown rice, uncooked
2 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
8-10 garlic cloves, minced
4 jalapenos (3 seeded)
2 28oz can and 2/3 of a 14oz can of diced tomatoes 
1 1/4 cup plain, non-fat Greek yogurt, plus additional for topping
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 1/2 tbsp Garam Masala
2 1/2 tbsp cumin
2 1/2 tsp paprika
2 1/2 tsp allspice
1 1/4 tbsp salt 
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
5 tbsp lime juice (or the juice of 2-3 fresh limes) 
2 tbsp of cornstarch, if necessary 
Fresh cilantro to taste

Mix onions, garlic, jalapenos, tomatoes, greek yogurt, spices (except cilantro), and lime juice in a large bowl. 

Cut chicken into strips and place in the bottom of the crock pot. Top with vegetable mixture. 

Cook on high for 2 hours. Turn to low and cook for another approximately 6 hours. With 2 hours left, break chicken into smaller pieces and stir. If too liquidy, slowly mix in cornstarch. 

Cook rice according to the directions on the package. Scoop the chicken mixture on top of rice, top with fresh cilantro and greek yogurt to serve.