I was walking through the store yesterday and took a turn down the “ethnic foods” aisle. I always see these delicious looking indian, spanish, and asian simmering sauces but never buy them. One of my favorite indian food dishes is Chicken Tikka Masala. I love it! I sort of assume no jar of sauce in a store can beat the real deal in a restaurant, but I decided to give it a try anyway.
Along with the chicken, I bought a bag of dried lentils. The only time I’ve ever tried lentils at home was when I picked up some pre-made lentils from Trader Joes. I was not a fan….
I found a great looking recipe for lentils on Allrecipes.com and thought it would be perfect with the chicken. Here’s the recipe I used for the lentils:
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 3 cups water
- half an onion- I only had a red onion but I’m sure white onions would be great.
- 1 potato, peeled and chopped
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 2 tbsp dried parsley flakes
- 2 1/2 cups water
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cloves of garlic
First up, I combined the lentils with 3 cups of water and brought it to a boil. Once it started boiling, I reduced the heat to a simmer and let it simmer for about 10 minutes (uncovered).
While the lentils were cooking, I sauteed the onion and garlic until cooked through. I also peeled and chopped the potato and got the spices together.
Once the lentils were done cooking, I added the onion, garlic, spices, and potato.
How long do you guys keep your spices? I was looking at my dried parsley and realized I bought that when I lived in San Francisco which was about oh, 3 years ago? I hear you’re supposed to trash them after a few months…oops!
After all the mix-ins were added, I added the rest of the water and brought it back to a boil. Once it started boiling, I took it off the burner, covered it, and let it sit for 20 minutes.
While the lentils were finishing up, I cooked the chicken. I added the sauce after the chicken (which I chopped up) was cooked. I let it simmer in the sauce for about 15 minutes. It smelled amazing!
So easy! Along with the chicken and lentils I steamed some broccoli. I also bought some pitas to go along with the meal (naan is so much better! But I’m trying to stay relatively healthy here).
Dinner is served!
The tikka masala sauce was pretty good. Not as good as restaurants (I’m sure there’s lots of good butter, cream, etc. added mmm) but pretty good nonetheless.
Hope you all have a great Tuesday!
I need to be invited to such feasts!
I know! I need to actually attempt to make tikka masala sauce and not buy it in a jar…haha
I made this one last night! But I blew it because I used the Trader Joe’s lentils instead of dried ones – I was sure they carried dry ones! But I was wrong and too lazy to go to another store. I always shop at Trader Joe’s just because it is the cheapest grocery store in Manhattan. The lentils still good though – and really easy, and the chicken was super easy.
I get Food and Wine magazine every month (if you like Caesar dressing, I love this “one the light side” recipe one: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/caesar-on-the-light-side) and they always have delicious Indian food recipes in it – the problem is the 500 spices you have to buy in order to make it. Spices are expensive!! I definitely use them way past that three month mark… 🙂
haha ahh hell. ya that was my first time with dried lentils and they were pretty easy…but it makes like, a million lentils so get ready for leftovers! hah. i miss trader joe’s so much! 🙁 im heading to cleveland temporarily and i think they have one yay!
thanks for the link, ill definitely check it out!!