Semi-Homemade Chicken Tikka

Covid-19 is changing our lives, but I hope not forever. Many families are being quarantined, and restaurants are closed. This is the best time for us to learn some easy recipes to create at home. Chicken tikka is an Indian curry dish. It is easy to make at home with ready-made tikka masala sauce. Tikka sauce can be made at home, but all the spices for this sauce are so many to buy for some people who are not yet ready to become a cook. Tikka sauce is a tomato and cream combination (each cook can either use yogurt or heavy cream) with lots of traditional Indian spices – too many to introduce here. The orange hue comes from the turmeric, tomato and red chili. Other strong flavors come from ginger and garlic. However, do not worry, the tikka sauce is available in almost every grocery store such as Aldi, Walmart etc. This will save time to make chicken tikka at home. That is why I call it semi-homemade chicken tikka, and the sauce that I use for this recipe is sold at Aldi.

Ingredients:
5 skinless, boneless chicken legs and thighs
Ingredients for the chicken marinade:
6 oz. nonfat Greek yogurt
1 ½ tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon ginger
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon red chili (I use paprika or Korean chili powder)
1 teaspoon of salt
Ingredients for the sauce:
16 oz. Tikka marsala sauce
1 white onion, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 Roma tomatoes (remove seeds and cut into 1 inch cubes)
1 tsp ginger minced
2 garlic cloves minced
3 tbs oil
Other ingredients:
Chopped green onions and cilantro
Serve with garlic naan bread or steamed rice

Instructions:
In a bowl, combine chicken with all of the ingredients for the chicken marinade; let marinate for 30 minutes to an hour (or overnight if time allows).
Heat the oil in a large deep skillet or pot over medium-high heat.
When sizzling, add chicken pieces in batches of two or three, making sure not to crowd the pan. Fry until browned for only 3 minutes on each side.
Add garlic and ginger and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant
Add all the sauce ingredients to the pan and bring to boil.
Let simmer the sauce and chicken for 20 minutes, then add onions and tomato. Continue to stir and cook the chicken, onions, and tomato for 7 minutes. At this time, adjust the seasonings by adding sugar, salt and more pepper.

Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro, and serve with rice or fresh homemade naan bread!