Chicken Tikka Masala — the ONLY easy way to make it at home

2 cups basmati rice
1 large onion
2 tablespoons garam masala (or the leftover masala from the above tandoori chicken recipe)
2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon Kashmiri chili powder (for moderate heat, adjust to your taste)
2-3 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste (bottled or freshly peeled and grated)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2-3 pounds (raw weight) cooked tandoori chicken (half the above recipe)
1/2-1 cup heavy cream
1-2 tablespoons sugar
salt
water
oil or ghee
cilantro for garnish

Rinse the rice until the water is starting to go clear. Drain and dump into a pot with 3.5 cups water and a teaspoon of salt. Stir to dissolve the salt evenly, then cover and let soak while you do the next steps.

Tear and/or cut the leftover tandoori chicken into boneless, bite-size pieces. Peel and chop the onion. Preheat a large pan for the chicken on high, and also turn the heat under the covered rice on high (until it boils, then reduce to low and cook until all the water its absorbed, about 15 minutes, then turn the heat off and let it sit until you want it).

Put some oil or ghee into the large pan, then cook the onions until they're starting to brown, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to medium, then stir in the masala, the chili powder, the tomato paste and the ginger-garlic paste and fry until you're scared it's going to burn. Dump in the tomatoes and deglaze. Reduce the sauce until it gets thick and starts to caramelize, stirring constantly.

Stir in the cream, then stir in enough water to give you a smooth, silky texture — maybe 2 cups. Stir in the sugar, then season with salt to taste. If you want to, strain the sauce and discard the solids. Stir in the chicken, let it heat for a sec, then put it on a plate with some rice, and garnish with cilantro leaves.

[aragusea]

Q: Do you realize we don't cook it this way in India?
A: I said pretty clearly at the top of the video that I'm making the British/American version of the dish. Also, given that a plausible historical origin for the dish is in Glasgow, I would say this version is as traditional as any.

Q: Don't you know that the water-to-rice ratio depends on the amount of rice being cooked?
A: Sure do, but 2:1 (or maybe a little less water) is a perfectly good rule of thumb for the quantities of rice that most people are making at home, i.e. 1-2 cups at a time.

Q: Why did you make rice with it instead of naan?
A: Because rice is way easier to cook at home. I love naan, and I think you can make great naan if you have a pizza stone, so I'll definitely be doing that in a future video, but not today.

[thomasboy]

5:16 I legit thought he was going to say 'I forgot the white wine'

[stoliez]

As an indian cook I'm going to be honest this is a pretty good recipe. The only things that need adjusting, but will make a HUGE difference, is 1. you need to fry the ginger garlic paste with the onions once they have caramelized a little, frying them with tomatoes is very different then frying the paste on its own. 2. when you add water at the end of cooking the curry, you NEED to simmer the sauce for a bit until the oil separates from the sauce and floats on the surface around the edges of the pan. Thats when the curry has truly cooked and the cream/oil/flavours have thoroughly combined. Trust me <3

[lapideous]

There's a faster way to wash rice:
Swirl the rice AFTER you pour most of the water out, before adding more water. The increased friction between the rice grains will get the starch off much faster.

[penguindawg]

I like to cook my Kove Audio in white wine for 24 hours personally it makes everyone sound like you Adam.

[lilynoir]

Adam has a souncloud? Do we get an interpretation of the reggae classic "White White Wine"

[skwebs]

I am Indian and grew up eating this. However, I never made tandoori chicken or chicken tikka masala because I was always intimidated and thought only Indian restaurants could make this stuff. Happy to report I made tandoori chicken for fourth of July and then made this tonight. Unbelievable taste. Better than what I have had at any restaurant. Thank you Adam for inspiring me and making me a better home cook!

[liamdonahue]

"Plus, there's lots of leftovers"

*you haven't met my family.*

[xannellan]

"I think I'm forgetting something"
White wine?
"Garlic!"
...

[hoop.theory]

“The only rice that tastes like something”

Jasmine rice: *Am I a joke to you?*

[windshearahead]

I love how he takes his time to post an answer with a pinned comment for every hate post he finds

[rocknexus]

When he measured the water for the rice in cups not in finger notches 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀 👀

[BRN-A]

Reminds me of that Joke:
"If the British went trading for spices, how come they never learnt how to use it."

[asimrankohli]

He WASHED THE RICE! 😭😭 My Asian heart is so happy :)

[person]

6:50 - No no, you don't strain it. You use an immersion blender. Stick your immersion blender right in the pot and purée it. Then you'll have a nice smooth texture without throwing away the onions and tomato chunks.

[bwl.]

A video not sponsored by squarespace....






Impossible

[nickcontini]

pro-tip: use a sieve to do your rice rinsing. Put the rice in the sieve and the sieve in the bowl. Run water over rice, pushing the rice around in the water; do this vigorously, but don't be so rough that you damage the rice. when the bowl is full of water, lift the sieve out, dump the water, and continue rinsing.

[belowcelcius]

God this is so much better than all the other cooking youtubers who are all so adamant and prideful that you gotta toast your own spices and do all this extra stuff that doesn’t really matter because you’re making it at home thank you Adam you’ve truly become one of my favorite youtubers in general

[TheWhiteDragon]

"I don't really think this step is necessary... ...but wash the rice"


*ANGRY ASIAN NOISES*

[LuxuryTandoors]

Would you like to shoot some real Tandoori cooking videos? We'd be happy to send you a real tandoor. Let us know!