Celebrity Chicken Tikka Masala

Celebrity chefs suck. They have taken an industry and turned it into a fantasy world where nothing is as it seems in the kitchen. Fellow Brit Gordon Ramsay has done one thing right though - Chicken Tikka Masala. I've taken his technique and tweeked it slightly.

Chicken Tikka Masala is not native to India, but more or less, inspired by India. The British were said to have manipulated a curry recipe creating a fusion food worthy of England. It's a beautiful combination of tomatoes, peppers, spices and yogurt.

You need:

-Two skinless boneless chicken breasts, chopped

-1 onion, sliced

-1 jalapeno, diced

-1 inch of ginger

-1 garlic clove

-1 tb. tumeric

-1 tb. garam masala

-1 tb. sugar

-1 tb. chili powder

-1 tb. tomato paste

-1 tomato, chopped

-5 bay leaves

-2 cups of yogurt

-Chopped Cilantro

- White Basmati Rice

-Oil/Ghee

Start by frying the onion, ginger and pepper together in the ghee, or oil if you can't get the smoked butter. This mixture is going to be blended so you don't need to be precise in your chopping sizes. Sautee this mixture until the onion is translucent. Next add your spices and sugar until they are "bloomed" or fragrant, not burnt. Next make a well in the center of your pan and add the tomato paste and chopped tomatoes. Cooking tomato paste burns off the acidic potency. Put this mixture into the blender and make a sauce out of it while it's still hot. Meanwhile fry the chicken pieces until they are sealed and then cover in the spice sauce and bay leaves. Let this mixture simmer for five minutes before adding the yogurt. Let this cook until the chicken is fully cooked and serve with chopped cilantro... which I left out of my picture.

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