Healthy winter CTM

Chicken Tikka masala is the national dish of England. To some, this may be off-putting, suggesting inauthenticity (and I wouldn't know, I'm South Indian) or some McDonald's like perversion of actual Indian food, but the fact remains: it's just so good. Now I'm a sucker for any tomato sauce, and stir in a little cream and I'm a goner. With a little butter, and the deep complexity of Indian spices, it's just the perfect dish, a blend of all my favorite cuisines. 

The problem is, like McDonald's food, my beloved CTM isn't really that healthy. Especially not when you eat as much of it as I tend to do - when we lived in New York my husband and I used to get two orders of this entree so we could each have one. So naturally I went on a quest to make a healthier version.

The essential elements of CTM are chicken tikka, which is essentially chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and then grilled in a tandoor oven, and the sauce, which generally seems to have tomatoes, onions, spices, and some butter/cream. I figured by adding some veggies to bulk up the recipe I could get more mileage out of the sauce, saving calories and adding vitamins and fiber. And by making the sauce myself and adding the cream only at the end I'd be sure to save on all the delicious fat that restaurants use.

Finding myself in the middle of our second snowstorm in a week, I had to do quite a bit of improvising. Fortunately I had some old sweet potatoes lying around (though I'm sure kale or some other green would have fit in well too). I realized I had no yogurt at the last minute, but was able to re-create the marinade using 2% milk and a splash of vinegar, which ended up making for a very flavorful and tender chicken. I had no plain tomatoes on hand, but these fancy fire-roasted organic tomatoes didn't offend, and maybe even added richness to the sauce. As for the chicken, I always have a big bag of Trader Joe's tenderloins in the freezer, and while I wouldn't recommend eating them plain (especially with an inch of freezer burn like mine had) they do very well in stews and sauces.

When my husband returned after a 35-minute-turned-2-hour train ride (you'd think the Northeast would be used to snow by now), he was downright gleeful when he realized what I was up to. The end result? While you could tell it wasn't takeout (mostly thanks to the sweet potatoes), it provided all the same warm creamy spicy satisfaction, with an added dash of virtuosity as we took in all the colors and patted ourselves on the back for being so healthy.

Healthy Chicken Tikka Masala with Sweet Potatoes

For the marinade:

1/2-1 cup milk (I used 2%) or yogurt

1 tbsp white vinegar (if using milk)

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cayenne pepper

pinch of salt

4 boneless chicken tenderloins, or as many as you can fit in the marinade

For the sauce:

1 tbsp canola/sunflower/neutral oil

1 onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small hot green chili, minced

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp paprika

1 28-ounce can diced plain or fire-roasted tomatoes

dash of cream (about 1/4 cup), to taste

chopped cilantro

1. Combine marinade ingredients, submerge chicken, and let sit for at least 2 hours. Sauté chicken in a little oil, then set aside. 

2. Heat oil, and saute onion, garlic, chili and spices.

3. Once onions are slightly translucent, add sweet potatoes and saute for a few minutes.

4. Add about 1 inch boiling water and cover for about 10 minutes, until potatoes start to steam. 

5. Add tomatoes, cover and bring to a simmer, then cook on low heat for 30-60 minutes (longer for more developed taste).

6. Add chicken and cook until warmed through. 

7. Add cream and garnish with cilantro. 

Serve with rice and/or naan.