ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

ChefSteps

This tikka masala sauce, suited for cooking meat sous vide, is a play on Britain’s most popular sauce. Stories vary as to where this creamy spicy-sweet sauce originated, but the most common story seems to be that a Bangladeshi chef in Scotland changed his chicken tikka—chicken pieces marinated in yogurt, cooked on a skewer—to be milder by adding a creamy tomato sauce. (That matched the customer’s wish for gravy, apparently.) It was a hit. Chicken tikka masala might also be a variation on Indian butter chicken, which has a similar buttery tomato gravy feeling. However it began, tikka masala is here to stay. This sauce comes together easily, tastes complex and mildly spicy. Serve spicy-sweet chicken tikka masala with rice and a sweet onion-herb salad for an easy weeknight meal.