Indian Extravaganza?

Cory posts about what sounds to be a delicious Indian restaurant, shortly before I'm going to post about some home cooked Indian I made the other night. How odd.

I love Indian food -- What I don't like is the fact that Indian restaurants are generally expensive. I'm not talking fine dining money here, but, dinner for two @ Roti Grill is approaching $40 these days, and they don't print coupons anymore, as far as I know. I've been going to the Kroger @ 635 and Macarthur just because they print coupons for Chatt Cafe on their receipts. Chaat Cafe is pretty tasty too...

So, a few weeks ago while @ Target, we bought some Archer Farms Tikka Masala sauce. Yeah, yeah, I know I should be making my own sauce, as this is a food blog, but, I didn't want to take the time, and I didn't want to have my first foray into Indian home cooking fail miserably, so, I consulted an "Expert".

That being said, I did put a nice Indian spice rub on the chicken before I sauced it, that, I did make on my own.

Indian Rub --
1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika
1/2 tsp each: Garlic Powder, Turmeric, Thyme, Cumin, Coriander and Ginger
1 tsp of Chili Powder
pinch of cinnamon

That's it. Check your Chili Powder for salt level, and season the meat/veggies accordingly with salt and pepper before cooking. I was able to season the one pound or so of chicken I sautéed last night and still had enough left over to season the peas and shallots (slice shallots thin, sauté in olive oil. Add frozen peas, cook to desired doneness, season, serve) that I served with our Tikka Masala.

Yes, next time I'll make my own masala sauce. Once I make it to the spice market, or farmers market, to get some garam masala and cardamom.

Oh and here’s that Chili Powder I promised you weeks ago:

Chili Powder –
4 parts Paprika
2 parts Garlic Powder
2 parts Salt (table, not kosher)
1 part Cumin (maybe more, if you like it more cumin-y)
1 part Chile New Mexico powder
½ part Chile de Arbol powder (hot!)

Mix together in and give it a taste. Add more salt/garlic/Chile to your taste. Also, if you want to add some Ancho, Chipotle or otherwise, that would make an excellent addition to the mix.

--Brad