Chicken Tikka Masala
This is a traditional Indian dish. It’s very spicy in the “flavorful” sense, but not in the “hot” sense.
Feeds 4.
Ingredients
- Two (2) pounds of boneless chicken thighs
- One (1) 16 ounce jar of Tikka Masala sauce (available in the “International Foods” aisle at Hannaford’s)
- Two (2) tablespoons of vegetable oil
- Two (2) cups of rice
- Three (3) cups of water
Things You’ll Need
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Large skillet or Dutch oven
- Quart-sized pot with cover
- Wooden spoon
Instructions
- Wash hands thoroughly before (and after!) handling raw poultry (or any food, really…)
- Use the cutting board and knife to cut the chicken up into small pieces. About 3/4 of an inch to 1 inch on each side.
- Put your skillet or Dutch oven over the heat.
- Add the vegetable oil to the skillet or Dutch oven. It will help prevent the chicken from sticking.
- Brown the chicken. This means cooking it until all the pieces are a nice tan or light brown color (instead of the pink they start out as). You’ll need to stir the chicken regularly with the wooden spoon, to make sure all pieces cook evenly.
- Put the water in the quart-sized pot and put over the heat. Bring the water to a boil.
- When the water is at a full boil (not before!), add the rice to the boiling water. Stir, then put the cover on the pot. Reduce the heat (turn down the stove or move the pot further away from the flames) and start a 15-minute timer.
- Once all the chicken is browned, pour the contents of the Tikka Masala jar into your skillet or Dutch oven. Stir everything, so the sauce covers all the chicken pieces, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring regularly.
(If you’re cooking as a Patrol, work together to try to have the chicken finish cooking at the water for the rice start boiling at the same time. Then you can use one timer for both, and everything will be finished at the same time. - When the rice is done, fluff it with a fork (this means to use a fork to dig around in the rice for a little bit to make sure it doesn’t all stick together).
- Put some rice in each person’s bowl, then add chicken and sauce on top.
- Eat.
Variations
- For more people, adjust the amount of ingredients (for example, double them to serve 8 people).
- To try with other flavors, the International Foods aisle at Hannaford’s offers several other sauce flavors that can be substituted for the Tikka Masala.