While I love exploring restaurants that allow me to explore new recipes and flavors, I’m often cut off from Indian and Asian flavors because of my food allergies.
A few times a year, I allow myself to explore Whole Foods at a leisurely pace. Recently I was taking a stroll down the sauce and spices isle, reading labels, hoping for new inspiration. To my delight, I found an Indian Tikka Masala by Brooklyn Delhi sauce full of flavor and free of allergens. Eureka!
This is when I began to experiment. Traditionally Tikka Masala would be paired with rice… no go for me! I decided to make a version of Tikka Masala with chicken and a finely chopped mix of fried cauliflower, carrots, and onions. Truly these veggies pair with the chicken and sauce so well, I do not miss the grains. The sauce is also a huge hit. I’m sure there are amazing people who cook homemade Tikka Masala sauce using coconut milk to make it dairy free. Often I am one of those people, but this store bought sauce is delightful, plus it has clean ingredients. Done and done! I just stock up at whole foods and save myself the time later. Use this link if you are one of those lucky people who can just order your Whole Foods items from Amazon.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of chicken – thighs are my favorite
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 2 medium carrots peeled
- 1/2 cup of sweet onion or substitute the green tops of scallions – Optional
- 3-5 tbsp oil – Avocado or grapeseed oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/3 tsp pepper
- 1 12oz jar of Brooklyn Delhi Tikka Masala Indian Simmer Sauce
- Fresh parsley – optional
Directions
You will need two medium sized pans for this recipe.
Wash and finely chop your veggies. I like to made them so small it feels like the texture of fried rice. Set these aside for later. Sometimes you can find fresh versions of these veggies already chopped for you in the store. I usually chop my own because the store bought isn’t always fresh and I trust my knives to handle chopping easily.
Using kitchen scissors, cut your chicken into bit sizes pieces and set them aside in a bowl. Sprinkle with 1 tsp of salt.
Drizzle 2 tbsp oil in a pan and heat it to medium high. When the pan is hot, pour in the chicken pieces. With a spatula, stir the chicken pieces making sure all pieces are cooking. When the chicken is golden brown and has no pink in the middle, it is ready. Reduce the heat to low and pour the sauce in with the chicken.
Heat your second pan to medium high. Pour in 1 tbsp of oil. When the oil is heated, pour in your onions ( Leave out the onions if you are struggling with SIBO, Following KETO, or a low FODmap diet). Stir those around for a few minutes, then add in the rest of the veggies. Sprinkle with 1 tsp of salt and 1/3 tsp of pepper. Stir the veggies cooking them through. Be careful not to burn your veggies. You might need to reduce the heat to medium, add a couple more tbsp of oil and keep stirring. Cook until the veggies are soft enough to bite through, but have some crispy edges.
I like to serve this dish with a pile of veggies and a scoop of the chicken and sauce on top. I also like to sprinkle fresh parsley on top to bring a fresh pop.
This dish is fantastic for meal prep because is reheats well. The flavors and smells are beautiful, but strong! I have yet to take this dish to work for lunch because my office is very small and I’m convinced the smell would never leave. Instead I have this dish for dinner. After a cold and busy day the veggies are filling and the spices warm me right up.
Leave a comment if you try this dish. We’d love to hear about it, or answer your questions.
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