Dairy Free Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala was the first curry I ever tried, loved, or cooked.  It might truly be a British dish instead of an authentic Indian curry but even with it's cloudy origins it holds a special place in my heart.  There are bottles of masala sauce at the grocery stores and it always tempts me, because it's slightly better than getting it from a restaurant, right?  I decided I would rather try making the sauce on my own, how hard could it be?  Well, when I started searching cooking books and the internet I discovered that there are hundreds of recipes, all with a decent amount of good reviews, and all with different ingredients.  I picked a few that I thought had some great reviews and decided to try a blend of the different recipes.

The first time I made the recipe it tasted good but not quite what I had in mind.  So the next time I tweaked the recipe a bit more, and this last time was my favorite. Last night I made it with coconut milk instead of milk/cream and yogurt.  We are trying to limit our dairy and I thought coconut milk might just do the trick, plus I enjoy coconut milk in other curries so why not try it.

I like having a little more sauce in my curry so if you prefer less sauce just add more chicken to it or freeze the extra sauce for a later date!

Ingredients: 

• 2 chicken breasts (cut into chunks)
• 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled
• 1 clove of garlic, minced or pressed
• 1/3 cup of cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 lemon
• 1/3 of a large red onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons garam masala
• 2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 (13 oz) can of coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• ground black pepper
• olive oil

Directions:

1. In a bowl place the cut up chicken, grate 1/2 of the ginger and zest the lemon.  Then add the pressed or minced garlic, the chopped cilantro, juice from 1/2 the lemon, a bit of ground black pepper, 1 tablespoon of coconut milk, and a tablespoon of olive oil. Set that aside and let it marinade. 
   
2. In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat.  While heating the skillet and oil, chop the remaining ginger.  Add the ginger and onion to the skillet once heated.  Continue cooking the onion and ginger over medium heat for about 10 minutes.  Then add in all spices and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Remove the onion mixture from the skillet and set aside in a bowl. 
   
3. Increase the heat to medium-high and add the chicken and marinade to the skillet.  Cook the chicken until browned but still tender. 
   
4. Once the chicken is cooked return the onion mixture to the skillet.  Then add the rest of the coconut milk and the tomato paste. Mix and simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Add salt or additional lemon juice if desired and then serve over rice.