Grandpa Gotta Cook—Tikka Masala

in #food5 years ago

This Time On, Grandpa Gotta Cook...

If you've been following this weekly series of Food Fight Friday posts lately, you'll know that I've pretty much gone to the crockpot for all my cooking. Results have varied, but not nearly as much as my regular cooking, and some have been major hits, worthy of a repeat.

However, for the most part, I would say they were, well, rather tame. Flavorful, but in an organized manner. More Western appeal, if you will.

Last Saturday, though, I decided I wanted to re-orient my style, so to speak, by reaching to the Old World for my recipe.

Yes, Food Fight Friday adventurers, you can make Indian food in a crockpot.

[Cue the intro music]

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Every once in a while, you just got to let your hair down. Not into the food mind you—that would be gross. A lawsuit waiting to happen. I can hear the ambulance chasers now.

What I mean is, you want to do something you've never done before, and get a little exotic. Even if exotic is pretty much the same where the food is from as hamburgers are here. Nothing fancy.

For me, that exotic dish was none other than Tikka Masala.

I've tried different Indian meals, but I've always had them combined with other types, and so I don't even really know their names or what they're made of. That might not be the best way to go about cooking a meal you haven't done before and aren't sure you really liked, but hey, that's how we roll here on Grandpa Gotta Cook. Cooking by the seat of your pants, as it were.

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It's a gamble. You might get lucky. You might not. In this case, maybe I could have done a little more research before diving in. More on that later.

First of all, I've read how the crockpot is the lazy cook's best friend. In the case of Tikka Masala, I'd say, not so much. There's eleven different spices involved here, and no, they weren't all a tablespoon or teaspoon each. I had to measure each one accordingly. For those keeping track at home the recipe called for:

Chicken breasts chunked, onion chopped, garlic minced, ginger, tomato sauce, olive oil, garam masala, cumin, ground coriander, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, cayenne pepper (to taste—very important), black pepper, bay leaves, heavy cream or full-fat coconut milk (which is what I did), cornstarch, and lemon juice.

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Wondering what all that looks like when you put it in a crockpot, sans the coconut milk, cornstarch and lemon juice? Refer to the top image. The one above is pretty much it, too, just with the bay leaves removed and several hours of cooking underway. Depending on time frames (and how early you want to start it), the Tikka Masala can cook for four hours on high or eight hours on low.

Just because I'm me, and things don't always go according to plan, I used a mixture of high and low to get the job done.

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With about 20 minutes left to cook, that's when the coconut milk, lemon juice and cornstarch get mixed up. Looking a little lumpy here, thanks to all the coconut fat, but it did smooth out a little once in was in the crockpot.

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Like so. You can also see that the color of the mixture has changed somewhat from a brighter red to something lighter and creamier looking. You can also see that the chunks of chicken have been cooking down, too. I hate it when meat does that. It seems like there's always a need for more of it.

Basically, that's what the final dish looks like. A lighter color, a creamier texture, and loaded with spices.

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I made rice for the meal. Nothing special, so there's not an image of it. However, I did take a picture of the naan bread, because, well, it's naan bread. And I really like it. The packaging said to heat the pieces of bread in the oven for two to three minutes and to sprinkle some water on them beforehand. So, I sprinkled. I'm not sure what it did, though. Naan tasted good regardless.

Taste Test

Well, you know how I was talking about gambling earlier and how you might get lucky? Yeah, well, there was that other side of the coin, too. It's not that the Tikka Masala was horrible, it was just a tad too strong in two flavor departments—cayenne pepper and tomato sauce. No cayenne would have been better since the other spices were spicy enough on their own. I'm not sure what to do about the tomato sauce, though. I didn't expect it to dominate as much as it did with all the other stuff mixed into it.

Thus, my foray into the wilder side of crockpot cooking was a solid miss. My son tried to be diplomatic, but I didn't see the daughter-in-law until the next day. Bad sign. My wife didn't protest my offering to throw the remaining sauce away.

If I ever try this again, I will probably use something fancier than straight up tomato sauce, like a marinara, and then either forget the cayenne pepper, or look for a reasonable, but different flavored substitute.

Regardless, it looked good and the house was filled with aromatic wonder for a good six hours. If only it tasted as good as it smelled.

And no, it didn't take my mind off the pizza I reported eating last week. I tried. I failed.

Maybe I'll get some more of that pizza next Tuesday.

Until we join together again over separately prepared meals my Food Fight Friday compatriots...

...Enjoy!

All images courtesy of Glen Anthony Albrethsen

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A great recipe @glenalbrethsen and your dish looks very appetizing!

Indian food can be very tricky to cook. Too many spices, and if you are not a fan of spice, it is even more difficult to judge the amount to put in. And Indian dishes usually takes a while to cook too. That's why a meal at an Indian restaurants costs a bit more. But like everything else, you learn from your mistakes and practice makes perfect. 😊

Which means I have to practice first. I think I'll run out of guinea pigs before I get it right. :)

I just need to figure out what I like and don't and then cook the stuff I like. It seems like I've eaten Tikka Masala at least twice, didn't enjoy nearly as much as others, but since I couldn't remember what the rest was called, I went with the recipe I recognized the name from. :)

There are two Indian dishes which I like - the Rogan Josh and the Butter chicken. Other than that, I am not very familiar with Indian dishes either.

I've never heard of Rogan Josh, or at least I don't remember it. I've seen the butter chicken, though, and I almost went with that, but I think there were some ingredients I was missing at the time and I found another recipe with stuff we had around the house.

I'll have to look at them again when I think the rest of the family is up to it. This next Saturday there's a barbecue we're going to, so I won't be cooking, at least I don't think I will be. :)

It does look good. Keep going.

Thanks, @shaidon.

I will keep trying. It's been more hit than miss with the crockpot, so I'll just keep experimenting so more. :)

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@glenalbrethsen
Your Food Fight Friday Contender has been entered into Round 51
May your contender make it out alive and not be placed in a permanent food coma!
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Good Luck

Howdy sir Glen! That dish looks very filling indeed, as well as very flavorful! I like the crock pot being the lazy cook's best friend!
How was work this week, overall?
and is your wife thrilled yet?

Hey, @janton.

The work week was tiring overall, but the last three days of it wasn't too bad. I think I feel it the most when I'm collecting the game machines because they're coin and cash boxes are all nearer the ground. The latter part of the week was more juke boxes and pool tables, as well as gearing up for Friday and the coming week, so not so much bending or getting on my knees.

I don't know if my wife is thrilled yet, but she might be at least happier when the paycheck arrives. :)

Problem is, I've lost my driver's license, I don't know when or where, and it's kind of hard to do my work without it. :) I've called around, looked around, etc., and it's nowhere so far. I guess I can get a replacement for $26 and a trip to the DMV with an application and proof of who I am. Luckily, I have all of that and the DMV opens at 8 AM on Monday morning.

Oh no! I hate losing stuff, that sucks. Well I hope replacing it goes smoothly.
Did you have to work today?

No, fortunately. If I can't locate it by Monday morning, I'll go in early to the DMV and get a temporary replacement license until the real one comes in the mail. At least that way I won't have to miss any work days.

Hopefully you'll find it but that's a good plan! Your schedule is flexible enough on your route that you can switch stops around on your own or do you have to follow a route that they lay out?

I do have a level of flexibility. I'm dependent on when the businesses are open or at least will allow me in, and there's not too many that open before 9 AM. Some of the restaurants allow service type people in before the customers, but I need to do a better job of asking about that. As long as I have at least one or two options that I can head to, if not get in at 9 AM, that helps.

So, doing the DMV this morning and then getting over to the first stop should be simple enough, as long as my son remembers he's taking me in. :)

Howdy today sir Glen! Yes, thescheduling, or your schedule should improve once you get to know the owners and find out which ones let you in early, that will improve efficiency a great deal.

Good luck on the license, what does your son have to do with it?

My son gave me ride to the DMV, since I really wasn't supposed to drive without my license. Otherwise, he had nothing to do with it. :)

I sae you throwin down some masala from scratch thinking, “I hope he doesn’t forget to take those bay leaves out.” Apparently it was the cayenne that needed to be taken out—that’s frikkin funny! Eh, at least it pictured well. 👍🏿

Yeah, well, there was that other side of the coin, too.

I laughed out loud right there. This was a fun read @glenalbrethsen. The daughter in law being vacant and your wife not protesting throwing the remaining sauce out is classic. Happy Friday, sir, have a great weekend.

Hey, @dandays.

Always live life with a bit of humor, right? Better than crying all the time. :)

I should have known better about the cayenne pepper. Maybe I'll try it again in a year or so when everyone else has forgotten what it tasted like, keep out the cayenne and come up with some other type of sauce. Or maybe I'll actually figure out what I do and don't like in Indian food and try that. Problem is, there's no place around here that's convenient to go to.

You know what? Speaking of cayenne. When we were in Central America, Pura and I spent a day doing a coffee and chocolate tour—really a good time actually. Well, to make chocolate calls for cayenne; cacao, cocoa butter, one or two other things that I don’t remember now and cayenne are the ingredients. Pura is a spicy eater, right? I’m not exaggerating, she likes to sweat, have a runny nose, etc when we go out to eat. I, however, am not that way. In fact, we doesn’t even add jalapeños to our meals (anymore).

Man, she instinctually put so frikkin much cayenne in our chocolate that she ruined it! Haha. Although it calls for a minor amount of cayenne to be true and correct, she saw the opportunity to make spicy chocolate. Ruined it, Glen. Enjoy the rest of your weekend, sir.

I generally go for flavor versus heat. There are some spices which will do a little of both, which is fine, but there are others that just want to melt your face, and I don't see the purpose of those. Cayenne is one of those peppers that to me just has an unpleasant taste, so I should have known better. If I'd been more of an experienced cook, I would have forgotten the cayenne all together since I would also know what the other spices were doing.

I didn't know cayenne went into chocolate. Now I do. :)

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Hey, @steemitboard.

I don't know how that compares to others, but I feel like it's a decent accomplishment to have people replying. Thank you for keeping track. :)

Another worthy contender!! This was a fun read for sure. Once you said the tomato sauce was strong I thought the exact thing you did, marinara or some sort of seasoned tomato sauce that tones down that tomato flavor. I know what it was missing, A few stray hairs... I think that is how Emeril makes his dishes taste so good,

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I tend to double the meat on every recipe, so not to disappoint my inner carnivore. LOL Way to go out on a limb and take a gamble, sometimes you win and sometimes you don't, but you always learn something no matter what happens.
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Hey, @jlsplatts.

I need to follow your lead and at least and a half more meat, if nothing else. At any rate, there's room to improve as far as this recipe and its contents are concerned.

I'd rather avoid the whole hair thing, though. We'll let Emeril keep his secret ingredient. :)