I was thinking about making a batch of chicken tikka massala. This is because I looked at a recipe online and realized I had almost everything I needed in order to make it.
But: My wife, while she really likes the flavor of Indian cuisine, nevertheless can not tolerate even the slightest bit of spiciness.
Among the ingredients in Tikka Massala, it appears the spiciness comes from dried red cayenne and jalapeno peppers. In my opinion, dried red cayenne typically adds little or nothing by way of actual flavor, and simply adds heat. Removing it, I suspect, should present no problems for the flavor of the dish. But what about the jalapeno? They definitely impart flavor to dishes they are part of.
So here’s the question. Do you think tikka massala without cayenne or jalapeno would be salvagable? Or would it simply taste like tomato soup of some kind? Should I just make a small batch to take to lunch, spices included, or could a decent non-spicey batch be made for the whole family?
The mild version is just as good. Well, maybe not just as good, but still pretty good. Google “Butter chicken” for some recipes that don’t involve heat.
Alton Brown made Lamb Tikka Masala on Good Eats a couple weeks ago. Of course, he went off on the idea of buying “CURRY POWDER” from the store and did a recipe for garam masala instead. The heat in that seems to come only from arbol chilies.
I’m like your wife and I can’t stand the slightest hint of spice - black pepper being the furthest I’ll go. I think I would be inclined to taste Alton’s dish, minus the arbol chilies.
Of course, I’m not sure if this recipe in any way represents what you have in your pantry, which was the reason you wanted to try it in the first place. But it’s another source of recipe at least.
The recipe I use (Cook’s Illustrated) only calls for garam masala and a finely minced serrano chile.
I’d think you’d be able to forego the serrano chile all together and make something pretty highly seasoned, but not necessarily spicy in a hot sort of way.
Hell, I think that’s what a local restaurant does; I think they just add cayenne in various proportions to their standard non-spicy sauces to make the hot/medium/mild versions.
I feed spice-averse friends* butter chicken all the time. It’s really close to tikka masala. You probably have all the ingredients.
Serve with basmati rice if you can: it’s totally unlike Uncle Ben’s Soopermarket White Rice
*Friends say it is om nom nom!
My wife does not like spicy food either, and she makes the Cook’s Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen recipe without the serrano (or very, very little serrano) and it is very good.
Indeed. I seem to remember reading in “On Food and Cooking” that the same flavor compound is responsible for that unique jalapeno/bell pepper flavor. Beyond that, I grew some sort of mild jalapenos one year, and they were pretty much indistinguishable from dinky little bell peppers, as far as taste went.
Serranos on the other hand, don’t have the same flavor and can be substituted pretty easily.
Google “Butter chicken” for some recipes that don’t involve heat.