Not so quick “quick dinner”
I do get asked if I eat “fancy” every day. Well. I believe eating wild game and good produce in any way is “fancy”, but I like dishes I can whip up on a weekday. The day I made Pheasant Tikka Masala was not one of those days.
I cooked all week, just cleaned that last pheasant I shot and Natasha was working late. It was time for some pantry diving and see what we had around. I found a Tikka Masala Sauce from Aldi and some mixed grain packages I could use to whip up a very quick dinner with the pheasant breast I just cleaned. Party on!
Starting with cutting up the Phez into mouth size bites, salt and pepper them and frying it in some duck fat with onions and garlic. By the time I had them browned, but still rare inside, I decided to simmer them in the store bought sauce. Easy, right! Fuck no! When I open the jar of sauce it wasn’t sealed. And it might have been expired 3 years ago. Damn!
Now what? Time to improvise. Ain’t the first time I make Tikka Masala so lets go. I usually marinade the meat in yogurt and bake it, but this wasn’t going to happen with this batch. I took it out of the pan and set it aside to make sure they don’t overcook. Cut up some more onions and fry them. Stir in a bunch of spices including garam masala and get the kitchen smell like a spice market. Add tomato paste, chili flakes, water and yogurt. Yum! Let it simmer for another 10 minutes. At this point I toss the phez back into the mix and simmer it till the meat is just about done. The grain mix I found in the pantry was still totally fine and made a great substitute for white rice. Natasha came home from work just in time, and it turns out this was her favorite masala ever. This might not be the most traditional Tikka Masala recipe ever, but here it is.
Pheasant Tikka Masala
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 Pheasant/sharptail/ruffed grouse breasts cut up in bite size pieces
- 1 large onion diced
- 4 cloves of garlic diced
- 1 tablespoon graded ginger
- 3 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 teaspoon of chili flakes or to taste
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- 1 6oz can of tomato paste
- 2 tomatoes diced
- 1/2 cup of yogurt or to taste
- 1/2-3/4 cup of water
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat oil in frying pan. Salt and pepper the meat pieces and fry over high heat till brown but still undercooked inside. Take out and set aside.
- Add onions to the pan and fry till translucent. Add garlic and fry for 3 more minutes.
- Add garam masala, chili flakes, and graded ginger and fry till frequent. Stir in tomato paste.
- Deglaze pan with water and lemon juice. Add meat pieces and simmer for about 3-5 minutes.
- Now add salt to taste.
- Stir in yogurt, taste one more time and add salt if needed.
- Serve with rice, cooked grains or lentils. Top the dish with some diced tomatoes to add some freshness.
