'Chicken Tikka Masala'

Hello! Okay so I had originally planned to cook both the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Vegetable Bhajis, but things did not go to plan, but I will explain that later. However, I did end up making a really tasty Chicken Tikka Masala!

Chicken Tikka Masala: (serves 6)
~Ingredients: 4 skinless chicken breasts, 2 medium onions, 1 red chile, a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger, a small bunch of fresh cilantro, vegetable oil, a pat of butter, 1/2 cup of tikka masala or mild curry paste, salt and pepper, 1 x 14oz can of diced tomatoes, 1 x 14oz can of coconut milk

Okay, so I started off with the chicken. I chopped off all the 'white bits' off of the chicken and then continued to cut them into slices, preferably 3/4 inch thick strips. I then left the chicken to the side on a plate, the chicken cutting took a bit of time, and it stinks! I then proceeded with the cutting of the vegetables. I peel and halved the onions, and then finely sliced the onions. I then threw the onions into a large saucepan (but didn't cook them yet). I then cut the chile in half, took out the seeds, and then finely sliced the chile. I then peeled the ginger, and finely sliced it. I threw the chile and ginger into the saucepan with the onion (still not cooking). I then picked the cilantro leaves and put them in a bowl to the side, but cut up the stalks and put them in the saucepan. Now you start cooking the vegetables. You add two big lugs of oil and some butter, and then leave it cook on a medium to high heat for ten minutes with the lid on, or until the onions are nice and brown. Then you stir and season, and add the tomatoes and coconut milk. (Be careful the coconut milk splashes literally everywhere). After giving it a stir add the curry paste and the chickens. Now, Jamie says to add a can of water, but I would suggest not to. I added the water, and my sauce was very liquidy. I would have preferred it to be thicker, and I think not adding the water would have made that happen. After it is boiling, bring the heat down a bit and let it simmer for 20 minutes with the lid on. Start cooking the rice, and soon the curry will be good to go. you can then serve the curry with some cilantro leaves on top, and maybe with some natural yogurt and some sliced almonds, or even a pinch of lemon. I just served mine with white rice and some cilantro leaves.

Now, I will explain what happened with the vegetable bhajis. So, you need a deep fat fryer (which I realized just before I did not have) or you need a quart of vegetable oil to cook them in a large saucepan (and I realized I did not have a quart of vegetable oil either). So I had made the mixture and wasn't able to cook it. The curry was also ready to eat, so it was to late to drive down to Safeway to grab some more oil. So it was disappointing, but I will still tell you how to make them!

~Ingredients: 2 large carrots, a 4-inch piece of fresh root ginger, 2 medium red onions, 2-3 red chiles (based on how spicy you want it), a large bunch of fresh cilantro, 2 teaspoons of yellow mustard seeds, 1 teaspoon of turmeric, 1 heaped teaspoon of cumin seeds, 2 teaspoons of salt, 1 cup of self-rising flour, 1 quart vegetable oil, a piece of potato
So to start, you just cut all the vegetables and put them in a large bowl. So I grated the carrots, sliced them into tiny pieces and put them in the bowl. And then I did the same for the ginger and the red onions. This was a very long and tedious process. Then you cut the chiles into halves, remove the seeds, and then finely slice them and put them in the bowl as well. You then chop the cilantro leaves AND the stalks and put them in the bowl. Now add the mustard seeds, turmeric, cumin seeds, and salt. Then add the flour and 1/2 cup of cold water and start scrunching the mixture together until it is nice and thick. In your hands it should feel somewhat like thick cake batter. Now is the time to cook them, which I didn't get to do :(. You can cook them in a deep fat fryer (very simple) or cook them in a large pan on medium to high heat. So to do the latter process, add the quart of oil into the large saucepan. Now drop in a piece of potato, and when it floats to the surface and begins to sizzle, that is the perfect temperature to cook the bhajis. Remove the potato using a slotted spoon. Pick up a tablespoon of bhaji mixture and place it into the oil gently, you can have several cooking at the same time. After 5 minutes, or until it is golden and crispy you can remove it and put it on a paper towel to drain. You can now eat them straight away by serving it with a bit of salt and lemon. You can just keep cooking the bhajis until you have used all your mixture!
I will show you some photos of the mixture itself.