Tikka Masala? Butter Chicken? Zac VS. Liz!

Hey pals, just a quick little post today about a dish I made last night. There’s a bit of a story here (isn’t there always?), so bear with me. Or, use the little scrolly arrows at the side of the screen to get right to the recipe. Never let it be said that ol’ uncle Zac doesn’t give you options.

Anyways, what started this whole thing is that Liz and I were having a conversation about butter chicken vs. chicken tikka masala. I thought they were the same thing (tldr, I was wrong… as usual) and Liz said they were two different dishes. So, it was research time.

In my research I learned that while similar, they are indeed two different dishes. Butter chicken is a bona-fide Indian dish, while tikka masala is not. For those keeping track, Liz is nearly always right.

Murgh makhani, or butter chicken was created, it is said, in a restaurant in Delhi called Moti Mahal in 1948. It was invented as a way to use unsold tandoori chicken, keeping the cooked meat from drying out by simmering it in a rich sauce of tomatoes, spices and butter.

Chicken tikka masala, however? That’s as British as Doctor Who. It was invented somewhere in the UK, sometime in the 1960’s and contains no butter, and a different blend of spices from the traditional murgh makhani.

Now, Liz swears by Gordon Ramsay’s butter chicken recipe. She’s made it for me before, and yeah, it’s tasty. But I didn’t want to just use some celebrity chef’s recipe and call it an evening. I thought for sure I could wing it and make something just as tasty… and then I did.

Now knowing the difference, I opted for the tikka masala method because 1) it was what I said I wanted to make in the first place, before I even knew the difference and 2) although I am neither British nor Indian, I’m certainly a lot closer to British if we’re splitting hairs. Seeing as tikka masala is kind of a rip-off dish anyways, I don’t feel the need to be too authentic.

I thought the end result was every bit as good as Gordo’s butter chicken. Liz says it was ALMOST as good, but I think she was just messing with me. Anyways, if I can make something almost as good as the great and terrible Ramsay, that’s saying something, isn’t it?

Chicken Tikka Masala (I Think)

Ingredients:

• 1kg (2.2 lbs.) skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1” cubes
• Kosher salt, to taste
• 12 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 4” knob ginger, peeled and minced
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 7.5g (3 tsp) Indian or Korean chili powder
• 5g (2 tsp) ground coriander seed
• 5g (2 tsp) ground turmeric
• 5g (2 tsp) ground cumin
• 7.5g (3 tsp) garam masala
• 1 lemon, juice only
• 250mL (1 cup) plain yogurt (I used like 750mL this was way too much, and Liz was like, you used all my breakfast yogurt?! And I was like, I thought you said I could? And she was like, no I said you could use SOME! Anyways, I was wrong again, on both counts)
• 3-4 medium yellow onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1-2 cardamom pods, well crushed or ground
• 1 796mL can whole Roma tomatoes
• 75mL (1/3 cup) 35% cream *optional* (Had I used less yogurt; I’d have needed the cream)
• 1 bunch cilantro, leaves only, roughly chopped
• 200g (1 cup) Basmati rice, uncooked

Method:

1. Place your chicken chunks into a large, non-reactive bowl. Drizzle them lightly with canola oil, then add a heavy pinch of salt. Mix in half the garlic, half the ginger, some black pepper, 1.5 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp ground turmeric, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1.5 tsp garam masala, and the lemon juice. Using gloved hands or a spatula, mix well until the chicken is evenly coated. Mix in the yogurt, once again making sure everything is evenly coated. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for minimum 4 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cover a baking sheet with tinfoil and place a wire rack on top of it. Transfer the marinated chicken to the rack and cook for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through cooking.
3. Meanwhile, in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven heat a film of canola oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions to the pot with a large pinch of salt, and let cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. To the onions, add the remaining garlic and ginger, and cook for 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add the remaining chili powder, coriander, turmeric, cumin, garam masala, and the cardamom and cook 1-2 minutes again until fragrant.
5. Add the tomatoes to the pot and maybe ¼ of the can filled with water if things look or sound too dry. Break the tomatoes up with a wooden spoon or spatula, and bring the pot to a bare simmer.
6. Add the chicken pieces to the pot. Discard any liquid or yogurt that dripped through the rack onto the baking sheet. Stir the chicken into the tomato gravy, combining everything completely. At this point you can decide whether or not to add the cream. Like I said earlier, I used WAY too much yogurt, so I didn’t. Had I not used all that yogurt, though, I for sure would have wanted some extra richness. Let everything simmer together gently for 25-30 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, cook the rice the usual way. Rinse the rice for 30 seconds to 1 minute in a fine mesh strainer. For 1 cup of rice, cover with 1.5 cups of cold water and a large pinch of salt. Bring to boil in a small pot, then reduce the heat to as low as it’ll go and cover tightly. Cook for 10 minutes, then let the pot stand off the heat, still covered for 10 minutes more. Fluff the rice with a fork.
8. Spoon the rice into bowls, ladle the curry over top and garnish with the chopped cilantro.

So, there you have it. And we learned some things along the way. The difference between butter chicken and chicken tikka masala. We learned when enough yogurt is too much. And we learned to always listen carefully to your fiancée, especially when she happens to be right about 99% of the time.

She isn’t right about Gordo’s butter chicken, though. Sorry Ramsay, it’s my blog and I say my tikka masala wins this battle. If you give this recipe a shot, or if you have any thoughts about future posts, please do leave a comment down below or shoot me an email!