Mmm...Indian Food...

So, once upon a time I blogged about how much I adore Indian food. Because I do adore Indian food. I love Indian food so much that I hope when I die, heaven is actually just an Indian buffet that is all-you-can-eat and you never get full.

That being said, however, I've really been wanting to make Indian food in the meantime (before my all you can eat Indian buffet heaven plans). :) While I have always been a huge fan of Indian food, the budget is a bit tighter now and a typical Indian restaurant trip usually runs us in the $40 range once you figure in all the delicious appetizers!

So when I came across this recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala (aka my favorite Indian dish!) on AllRecipes, I knew I HAD to try it.

It sat in my recipe box for a while (btw, I'm going to take a quick minute to plug AllRecipes. It's awesome. And the recipes are endless. And most of the ones I've made have been delicious! So I suggest that you finish reading this blog and head over to AllRecipes to log in and create your own account!), but I finally decided I really needed to eat Indian food since I don't think I've had anything save my Trader Joe's frozen meals since New Year's Eve. Or maybe February. But that is too long ago.

The one thing I noticed (which surprised me a bit) was that I pretty much had all of the ingredients already: chicken, plain yogurt, lemon juice, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne pepper (okay, well, had to borrow this from the neighbor since ours ran out a few months ago and forgot to replace it, but now it's been replaced!), black pepper, ginger (recipes calls for fresh, I used powdered), salt, butter, garlic (minced), paprika, tomato sauce, jalapeno pepper, heavy cream & cilantro. Aside from the heavy cream & yogurt, most of the ingredients were here or already on our regular grocery list.

The recipe was clear and easy to follow. Aside from using powdered ginger instead of fresh ginger, I didn't really make any modifications. Chicken marinaded in the fridge for about an hour while we ran some errands (including to get some cilantro, since the stuff we'd bought about a week earlier was already gross). Trader Joe's has frozen naan, both plain and garlic, but I decided not to get any this time.

After marinading and soaking the wooden skewers in cold water for about 1/2 hour, we threaded the chicken onto skewers and tossed them on the grill.

While the chicken was on the grill, we started on the cream/tomato sauce. The recipes calls for melted butter and then jalapenos and a whole bunch of spices to be sauteed prior to the cream & tomato sauce being added. Almost burned the butter! but was able to keep it from burning by hurrying up the spices and tossing in the cream. Phew. Crisis averted. The jalapenos and spices combined with the cream & tomato sauces turned into the lovely orange chicken tikka masala sauce that I know and LOVE! :)

I also had a bag of basmati rice so I made sure to cook that up to go along with the meal, especially given that I had passed on the naan.

After the chicken was grilled and the sauce was ready, we added chicken to the sauce & let it simmer for about 10 minutes.

THIS. WAS. AMAZING.

Holy crap and holy crap again. I honestly think this is one of the best dinners we've EVER made and that's saying something as it includes the Sprecher beer cheese soup, the Pioneer Woman mac & cheese, the chicken tortilla soup, the Jamaican jerk chicken and any of Andy's awesome chili. So yeah, I highly recommend this. A lot. And did I mention you should possibly go out and make this tomorrow?

So given that a chicken tikka masala dish at a good Indian restaurant will usually run about $10 (on the low end), and I don't really think this is "healthy" (though it yields 4 servings at 404 calories a pop, so really not as bad as I thought it would be), but I think it fits the "frugal" aspect.

Chicken: 3lbs @1.99/lb = $6

Heavy Cream: 8oz @0.89 = $0.89

Yogurt: large carton = $2.25

Tomato Sauce: 8oz @ ~$1

Cilantro: ~$1

Jalapeno Pepper: ~$0.50

Cumin, Cinnamon, Lemon Juice, Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper, Salt, Ginger, Butter, Garlic & Paprika, Basmati Rice: Already found in the house. :)

So for the whole dish, it was roughly $11.65. For 4 servings. No tip necessary! :)

Next time, however, I am going to try a few different things to try and make it a bit healthier. The entire recipe as written calls for 7 teaspoons of salt. Uhh...sodium much? A few of the reviews on allrecipes said the salt didn't matter. So I think I'll just do a bit of trial and error with that. The recipe also calls for a tablespoon of butter, but it really was just to saute the jalapeno and spices. I am going to try substituting grapeseed oil for that next time. No risk of me burning then either....

Overall I give the recipe an A+. It tasted pretty similar to my favorite Indian restaurant's chicken tikka masala (though I'm not going to stop frequenting my favorite Indian restaurants because of it). I was really surprised at how relatively easy it was to make, and I was very impressed.

One of the best ethnic foods...ever.

One of my very favorite ethnic foods to eat is Indian food. There is nothing better, in my opinion, than a tasty serving of Chicken Tikka Masala or Chicken Makhani (aka Butter Chicken!), with some fresh naan (even better is garlic naan!) and basmati rice. Man, I'm salivating just thinking about it.

The problem (if there is one) with Indian food is that it is usually impossible for me to go out for Indian food and not have to waddle out of the restaurant. Really, I should just bring a set of wheels so I can roll myself out. In addition to the tasty main course, the side of naan and unlimited basmati rice, the meals often begin with papadum, and then tasty appetizers, often which include samosas and pakora- cheese, chicken and/or shrimp.

Like I said...Indian food is delicious. And filling. And extremely bad for your diet. And bring a set of wheels so you can roll yourself out afterwards.

However, I have found an option for those days when you want Indian food, but not all the calories. Or for those days when going out for Indian food isn't really feasible (aka the days of 1/2 hour lunches!).

Once again, Trader Joe's comes to the rescue (they really should pay me since I promote them all the time!!)!! :) They have a delightful frozen Chicken Tikka Masala. I've had it twice now, and it really does taste pretty good. Not quite the same, but it's a pretty decent option. Also, there are portion controls. :)

Photo originally found here.

There are between 3-6 pieces of chicken. The first time I had it, I had 6 smallish pieces of chicken, the second time there were 3 huge chunks of chicken. So roughly the same amount of chicken, just portioned differently. It also comes with a side of basmati rice. And it can be heated in the microwave in just over 5 minutes!

Photo found here.

For those counting calories: 300 calories per serving, with 110 calories coming from the 12g of fat (5g saturated fat). From a weight watchers perspective, about 7 points. Given that many of the SmartOnes/Lean Cuisine/Healthy Choice frozen entrees are between 5-8 points, this pretty much falls into the same category for frozen entrees. There is also a lot of rice, so it's more filling than it would initially appear to be.

So while it is not nearly on the same level as Indian Food Bliss that can be found at an Indian restaurant, it is much healthier (and portioned!), and cheaper, too. :)