chicken tikka masala

It's complicated to make Indian food from scratch because of the sheer number of raw spices. So like a few other dishes (Japanese Curry, Spaghetti Sauce 2 and Teddy Bear Soup), I depend on jar sauces and spice blocks. These starters are a huge convenience and time-saver when you need to make dinner and drive your kids to piano lessons.

I've always doctored things up--usually adding vegetables, and in some cases adding additional spices or cream to give it that extra 'kick'. I also try different brands, to see if it makes a flavor difference, or honestly, sometimes because of what's on sale.

In this case, I went for the organic jar sauce that was on sale. I've also tried the Trader Joe's jar sauces, but in general, found them to be quite salty. Plus the tagline sold me "A mild curry sauce that's top-of-the-charts in the UK." How can you not love that?

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1 package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 onion, cut into chunks
1 red pepper, cut into chunks
About 1T of butter
Mangoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 jar of Seeds of Change Tikka Masala Sauce
A bit of agave nectar or a handful of brown sugar (to taste)

A bit of milk, cream or half-and-half, whatever you have, even sour if you are in a pinch.
Crushed honey roasted peanuts or pistachios

Optional Add-ins
Sriracha sauce
Pineapple chutney that we got for Christmas or 
Mango chutney that my Aunty makes

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Melt butter in a pan and brown chicken. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the entire jar of masala sauce and let it simmer for a few minutes. Add mangoes, agave/brown sugar to adjust taste to your liking. Add a bit of milk/cream at the end to thicken and deepen the flavor.

Serve over jasmine rice, garnished with pineapple chutney, nuts and a little drizzling of Sriracha sauce.

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