Chicken "Tikka Masala" with whole wheat couscous

I love Indian food, but we don't have any good Indian restaurants in our neighborhood. When I'm craving my favorite, chicken Tikka Masala, and don't want to travel far to eat, this is a pretty good substitute. Boyfriend, who's a picky eater and "doesn't like Indian food" likes it, too!

The Ingredients:


-1 cup greek yogurt
-1 inch peeled ginger root, grated or minced (I peel a large piece of ginger root and cut it into 1 inch pieces, then freeze it. It keeps for months and grates really easily when frozen.)
-4 cloves garlic, grated or minced (I'm lazy and usually grate my garlic and ginger on a microplane rather than mince them)
-Zest of 1 lime
-2 tbsp chili powder
-4 tsp coriander
-2 tsp smoked paprika
-1 tsp turmeric
-2 tsp ground cumin
-1 pinch cinnamon
-2-3 tbsp olive oil
-Salt and Pepper
-1 ¼ - 1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken (today I used breasts, but I really like this dish with thighs)
-1 14.5 oz can tomatoes (I had Fire Roasted Tomatoes in my pantry, but any kind of tomato works)
-½ cup chicken stock (I make my own chicken stock and freeze it in small quantities to use throughout the week, but will substitute a good low-sodium stock in a box if I don't have homemade on hand)

-½ cup whole wheat couscous
-2/3 cup chicken stock
-¼ cup slivered almonds

The Directions:

1. Preheat oven as high as it goes, 500° or 550°F.
2. Combine chili powder, coriander, smoked paprika, turmeric, cumin, and cinnamon. Reserve 1/3 of spice mixture for the sauce and the couscous. Combine two-thirds of spice mixture with yogurt, grated ginger, lime zest, and 3 cloves grated garlic. Thin to saucy consistency with olive oil (about 2 tbsp). Season chicken with salt and pepper, add to yogurt mixture, and coat chicken thoroughly. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
3. Line a half-sheet pan with foil. Lay coated chicken breasts on sheet pan. Bake at 550°F for 20 minutes.
4. While chicken is baking, make couscous and finish sauce. In saucepan, sauté ½ of remaining spice mixture and almonds for 2-3 minutes, until lightly toasted. Remove almonds and spice mixture, add ½ cup chicken stock and bring to a boil. When stock comes to boil, turn off heat, add couscous, toasted almonds and spices to stock, cover and let sit 5 minutes. Fluff with fork.
5. Heat 2nd saucepan with 1 tbsp olive oil. Saute 4th clove of grated/minced garlic and remaining spice mix for 2 minutes. Add can of tomato sauce and ½ cup chicken stock. Simmer until chicken is done.
6. When chicken is done, cut into bite-sized pieces and add to tomato sauce. Simmer 5 more minutes, then serve over couscous.


This is such an easy method - you can substitute so many different spice/herb combos and make completely new meals. This "Indian" version can be made even more simply with a pre-blended curry spice blend, or with curry paste. And the spice blend will keep for weeks in an air-tight container, so you can make a double or triple batch and then won't need to make it every time you make this meal. This is also great without the tomato sauce. Just the marinated, baked chicken is very similar to Tandoori Chicken and is a yummy dinner, too!

Tonight, I served it with kale, which I sauteed in a tbsp of olive oil, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. A pretty great square meal, and it got a vote of confidence by Boyfriend, despite his worry about eating "Indian" chicken and "the green stuff".