We like Indian food, but don’t always want to go out to a restaurant. In the past, I’ve made chicken tikka masala from scratch with the yogurt marinade, tomato cream sauce, homemade naan, and rice that I try desperately to cook correctly. It was delicious, but very time consuming.
So tonight, after I spent all day balancing on a ladder while painting a bathroom, I was tired. I went to Trader Joe’s and went wild. I usually stick to buying only jars of sauces and other non-perishables. This time, I bought a few of the marinated meats in addition to my usuals. The marinated meats are more expensive than the usual meats I buy at the grocery store, but they’re worth the cost.
I can hardly call this dinner a ‘recipe’ or even call the dish ‘chicken tikka masala,’ but it was so good that I have to tell people about it! This dish was so quick and easy. Even though it’s a little pricey for an at-home meal, it’s still much cheaper than eating at a restaurant.
Ingredients:
1 pack Trader Joe’s curry chicken tenders
1 jar Trader Joe’s masala simmer sauce
1/2 bag frozen peas
1 pouch Trader Joe’s jasmine white rice
2 pieces Trader Joe’s frozen naan
Directions:
Heat a grill pan to medium-hot. Place the chicken tenders on the grill pan and grill for 3-4 minutes on each side. While the chicken cooks, pour the simmer sauce and peas into saucepan. Heat the mixture on medium until simmering, then let it simmer while you continue cooking the rest of the food. Now is a good time to cook the rice in the microwave according to the directions on the box.
Remove from the chicken from the grill (it’s probably not cooked all the way through and that’s okay), and cut it into bite size chunks. Put the chicken back on the grill pan and let it finish cooking. Once the chicken chunks are cooked through, put them into the saucepan with the peas and sauce. Stir it all up, and simmer it for about 2 more minutes. Turn off the heat on the grill pan and throw the naan on it. Let them heat up and then flip them over.
Put the rice and chicken-pea-masala mixture into a bowl and add the naan on the side. Enjoy!