Slow cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

Ever want to make your own Butter Chicken instead of buying the jars at the store? PC makes an awesome butter chicken sauce, make no mistake, but you kinda always wonder whet they put in it to make it taste so good, and honestly I do that at restaurants to, but usually assume the answer is "tons of butter" or "tons of salt" because let's be honest its probably likely to be one of the two.

So in the wilds of the internet looking for inspiration for my big weekend cooking spree (I usually cook one to two dishes for the week over the weekend, inspiration to cook on weeknights is low when you regularly get home at 7pm apparently). I found this recipe on thektchn which I have not explored much. Two things stuck out, make from scratch Indian curry and the recipe is basically just throw everything in the slow cooker and leave it. I have not had huge successes with this kind of slow cooker recipes, which probably means that it was kinda silly to make it when I knew company was coming :) but it worked out!

It helps that my guests were really hungry after a long train ride and Robin and Russul who visited over New Yearsgot to taste test the recipe and we all agreed it worked really well!

For the recipe I mostly did as directed, though I will have to try frying the garlic and onion first since I think that would taste good, and instead of heavy cream, I used a rich Greek yogurt and it worked perfectly, though I'm sure cream would have been decedent. Or you know if you like coconut I suppose you could do that :)

Chicken tikka masala
SOURCE: http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-slow-cooker-chicken-tikka-masala-recipes-from-the-kitchn-211284

Ingredients:

1 to 1.5lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs 1 large onion, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 inch piece ginger, minced 2 tablespoon tomato paste 1 to 2 tablespoons garam masala 2 teaspoons paprika

2 teaspoons salt 1 (28oz) canned diced tomatoes 3/4 cup heavy cream/coconut milk Fresh cilantro, chopped 2 cups cooked basmati rice

Directions: 

1. Cut chicken into bite size pieces, if you have time you can marinate the chicken in yogurt of 30 minutes. Otherwise layer the chicken at the bottom of the slow cooker. Again it is optional to fry the onions and garlic, otherwise throw them on top of the chicken.
2. Add the ginger, tomato paste, 1 tablespoon of garam masala, paprika, and kosher salt until the chicken is evenly covered with spices. Stir in the diced tomatoes with their juices.
3. Cook for 4 hours on high, 8 hours on low.
4. Fifteen minutes before the end of cooking, stir in the heavy cream. If you prefer a thicker sauce, leave the slow cooker uncovered for the last 15 minutes. Taste and add more garam masala or salt to taste.
5. Serve over rice with fresh cilantro sprinkled over the top of each serving. The tikka masala can be refrigerated for 3 to 4 days or frozen for 3 to 4 months.

Photos to be added next time I make the dish :)