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Best Western Chicken tikka
masala-grilled boneless chicken in
a spiced, creamy tomato sauce-is
the quintessential Anglo-Indian
comfort dish (read about the
speculation swirling around its
origins, and its similarity to the
dish known as butter chicken,
here). For our version we reached
out to Indian-American chef Preeti
Mistry of Juhu Beach Club, a modern
Indian restaurant in Oakland,
California-Preeti is one of our
Kitchen Coaches. At her restaurant,
chicken tikka masala is on the
kids' menu, a testament to how
approachable and easy to love this
dish is, two factors that also make
it a great threshold recipe for
Indian-cooking novices. What to
buy: For marinating the chicken,
Preeti uses extra-tangy Greek
yogurt from Straus Family Creamery.
If using another brand, up the
acidity by adding a teaspoon of
lemon juice to the yogurt in the
marinade. You can use a commercial
garam masala spice blend for this
recipe, but Preeti strongly
suggests making your own, using
black cardamom pods (these are
smoked over charcoal, so they have
an earthy, smoky flavor-if using a
garam masala blend, up the smoke
and spice by adding 1/2 teaspoon
each smoked paprika and cayenne
pepper). Check out other
spice-buying tips from Preeti.
