Spice Blends - Tikka Masala

Paneer tikka masala and chicken tikka masala served with some very plain naan.

This dish has many layers of spices. One of those is garam masala. To make that, we start with whole dry spices - coriander seed, cumin seed, green cardamom, clove, peppercorn, cinnamon. We'll mix those with some ground nutmeg later.

Toast the whole spices over low heat for about 10 minutes or so.

Grind the whole spices into powder in batches. Don't use the same grinder that you use for coffee. This is my dedicated spice grinder.

We have salt, garam masala powder (that we just finished grinding), chili powder, and turmeric. These are the spices for marinating our chicken. The marinade is rounded out with yogurt, ginger, and garlic.

For the brave, a spoonful of mustard oil goes into the marinade.

She ain't pretty. Marinated chicken chunks are ready to go into the oven after a few hours.

20 minutes later.

The next layer of spices is the base for the tomato gravy. We start by toasting cinnamon, green cardamom, black cardamom, cumin seed, cloves, and bay leaves in oil.

I'm actually making two batches of tikka masala - one chicken, and another vegetarian paneer version. I made the paneer by boiling whole milk and stirring in lemon juice to separate the curds and whey. Cut into cubes after straining and pressing. I didn't do a very good job making the cheese. It wasn't evenly pressed and some pieces were way less firm than others.

Fried cheese!

Next we add our chopped onions and green chiles. Followed later by tomatoes, and even more spices (ground coriander, chili powder, more garam masala, and turmeric) and then finished with some cream.