Hey folks!! Happy Valentines Day!! Today is not just a day to celebrate the love you have for your partner (if you’re in a relationship that is), but really a day to remind ourselves of the love we deserve to give the one most important person in this world – you (us).
Yes, you are the most important person in this world.
If you can’t take care of yourself, how are you going to ever take care of the people around you right?
Self-love can mean so many different things to different people. It can mean, taking some time off every day to just spend time with yourself, listening to a podcast, reading a book, penning down some self thoughts…
It could also mean hitting the gym, or learning how to cook healthier food (this is my favourite part of self-love).
It could also mean doing some meditation exercises before you hit the bed. Whatever it means, today, put yourself first. And do something, anything to make you your most important person in your life.
And when you can do that, you can be a better partner, spouse, lover, sibling, friend and what not to everyone around you.
That said, like I mentioned, one of the things I like to do to give myself some love is to cook and experiment on dishes and tweak it to make it healthier. And today I have something which is totally outside my comfort zone but was so fun to make – chicken tikka masala.
I made this for our Christmas party once and the guys loved it and I bet your family would too. It’s surprisingly easy to make and most of the ingredients can be found in the supermarket or lying around in your house.
Also, if you live in Singapore and want some of these spices, come beep me and take some from my pantry. I have a lot!! LOL.
I gotta say though that this Chicken Tikka Masala is not 100% authentic and of course it can’t beat those we can find at Usman’s (Singapore) or other supper places BUT it sure serves as an alternative if you’re trying to eat healthier, explore different options and don’t mind having Indian for meal prep!
One word: TRY! Until you do, you have no idea how easy this can be. This dish is best served with basmati rice or some naan bread but you can also have it by itself – it tastes good on its own.
So hurry along! Grab your recipe book, pen this down, get the ingredients, and get preppin’. Don’t forget to tell me how it is either on the comments section below, on YouTube, or on Instagram at @asianmealprep. Would love to see your creations!
Easy and Healthy Indian Meal Prep: Chicken Tikka Masala
Makes – 3 meals
Time needed – 25 mins
Cost – ~S$2.40 per serve
Here’s what you need:
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
- 300g chicken breast, sliced thinly
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 cup water *optional
- Juice from 1 lemon *optional
- For garnishing: A bunch of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- To serve (optional): Cooked basmati rice
Here’s how you do it:
- Prepare all ingredients as above and have it ready before you begin.
- Heat a curry pot with unsalted butter and let it melt. Once it is melt, add in onion and stir for 1-2 mins until slightly golden.
- Add in chicken breasts and cook for about 4-5 mins. You don’t have to have it fully cooked at this point – leave it half or 3/4 cooked and remove from heat, making sure you don’t dispose off the butter and onion mixture.
- Using the same pot, put it on medium high heat and let the butter+onion boil.
- Once it’s boiling, add in tomato paste, turmeric, ground coriander, kashmiri chilli powder and ginger and stir them together mixing well to become a paste.
- Add in chopped tomatoes and stir so it mixes completely with the paste. Cook covered on low heat for 10 minutes.
- Add in Greek yogurt, half cooked chicken breasts and salt and pepper and mix well. At this point you can optionally add in more water if you want the sauce to be a little more runny and lemon juice.
- Let it cook on low heat for a further 10 minutes before removing them from heat.
- If storing for meal prep: Let your meal completely cool before adding into your containers. Add equal amount of chicken tikka masala into your containers and if desired, serve it with basmati rice. Garnish with coriander leaves.
- If serving immediately: Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve by itself or with a side of basmati rice or bread.
How much this costs:
*Keep in mind that this numbers are a rough guide. It depends on where you buy it and when. You can definitely save more money if you purchase in wet markets etc. At the end of the day it’s possible to eat healthy without breaking the bank. Also, ~ denotes the items that should already be in your pantry for a long time or it’s a very small amount.
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter $0.50
- 300g chicken breast, sliced thinly $3.20
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt $1.30
- 1 large onion, chopped $0.50
- 1 tablespoon finely grated ginger ~
- 1 tbsp tomato paste $0.20
- 1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes $1.50
- 2 tsp turmeric ~
- 1 tsp ground coriander ~
- 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder ~
Total price = ~S$7.20
Price per serve = ~ S$2.40
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information below is based on the ingredients I’ve used above. It may not be an accurate representation of the Chicken Tikka Masala you made.
This recipe yields approximately 3 serves and the values below excludes basmati rice.
Calories 297 Protein 28.7g Carbs 12.8g Fats 13.6g Saturated Fats 5.1g
