Experiment with tikka masala - initial results.

Ok, so I tried the tikka masala non-dairy version that I described previously. The results were not spectacularly bad, but were certainly not what I expected either.

First, a confession - I made two errors when making the masala itself:
1) I didn't sautee the onion/ginger/garlic mix with the pepper/garam mix for 2 minutes. I added it at the same time I added the tomatoes.
2) I forgot about the ground cashew powder I set aside. Whoops.

You might also want to add to the list of mistakes "buying your garam masala at the local QFC, and not an authentic Indian grocery."

So the end result was less the fiery delight called chicken tikka masala, and ended up much closer to chicken chai masala - that is, the sauce was peppery and a little on the sweet side. It wasn't bad, but unexpected.

Next time, along with following the actual recipe I set out, I'm going to reduce the amount of honey used by half and include maybe a teaspoon of salt in the mix.