Chicken Tikka Masala

Jamie's mom hates curry so whenever she is out of town, we try to take Jamie's dad out for Indian cuisine. So on Wednesday I'm all excited to go for an all you can eat Indian buffet, but Jamie's dad decided it was too cold to go out. After craving it all day, I dragged Jamie out to eat it anyways. We live quite close to Maurya Palace on the north side and for $15.99 (I think...) it was going to have to do. 

This is my first of two plates. Just a little taster plate. Jamie skipped the saffron rice and I made the mistake of taking some. Not because it wasn't tasty but because I forgot all about the naan bread!!! Now fast forward to today. Jamie took some chicken breast out to defrost so I suggested we make chicken boona. I've never seen chicken boona anywhere else except for the little mobile stand "Curry N Hurry" found at all the Edmonton festivals. I eat it every time I go to Capital Ex. We've tried to recreate the dish and have been somewhat successful in the past. I haven't made it in a long time so I tried looking for a recipe. After searching "chicken marsala", I realized I was looking for the wrong thing! Took me a while to figure out I was looking for "chicken tikka masala". Can you believe there's only one recipe on allrecipes for this? I'm not counting the second recipe because it had like 2 stars... I didn't follow the recipe exactly because I didn't want to waste time marinating the chicken so I came up with my own version. 

1. Cut up 2 medium onions and saute in a pot. 

2. Cube 2-3 chicken breasts and add to onions. While the chicken is cooking, add 2-3 tablespoons of garam masala. Add in chopped garlic (we used an entire head). Continue cooking till chicken pieces are browned. 

3. Add 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of paprika, juice of 1 lemon, 1-2 tsp of Sambal chili sauce and salt (to your desired taste). 

4. Add 2 cans of tomatoes and veggies of your choice. We used 1 red pepper and 3 stalks of celery. 

5. Cover and simmer till the veggies are cooked to your liking and add 1/4 cup of sour cream. 

6. Serve over rice. 

We like it really spicy and tangy so we mix Sambal chili sauce with vinegar and add it on top while we eat. Next time we'll try adding a can of tomato paste and see if it kicks it up a notch or not. We served ours over brown rice. (Side note: I hate cooking brown rice!) The pictures were taken with the iPhone using Camera + again!