Indian comfort food on a snowy day

The view from our front porch. Brr.

Our Realtor warned us about a phenomenon that occurs here in Huntsville, Alabama: mass panic and desperation at the slightest inkling of snow. "Don't bother trying to buy bread, milk, or eggs when you see snow in the forecast," he warned, "those shelves at the store will be empty."

Turns out he was right!

The past few weeks have brought an unusual amount of snow to the area - we were blessed with eight inches overnight at one point! (A remarkable amount according to locals.) I was thankful to have done all my grocery shopping ahead of time so I could keep away from the hysteria and stay warm and cozy inside for the majority of the snowfall. I even turned on the "Fireplace For Your Home" episode on Netflix to see if it had any sort of placebo-effect powers to keep me warm. (It didn't. But it was pretty!)

Recently, I've enjoyed flexing my amateur-chef muscles by trying new recipes from different cultures and these wintry days provided a perfect opportunity to try Chicken Tikka Masala. The recipe I found on Table for Two was daunting at first, not because of the complexity of the instructions but because of the long list of ingredients! I discovered, however, that a large portion of the ingredients are spices that are quite common to have on hand. I only had to hunt down one spice (garam masala) that my usual grocery store doesn't carry. Since it is a slow-cooker recipe, I was able to throw it all together in the morning and enjoy the rich scent as I worked at home throughout the day.

I am looking forward to making this dish again so that I can play with some of the ingredient ratios to make it "mine." When I do, I'll be sure to provide the recipe and photos of the dish myself. Until then, though, I highly recommend this recipe!

I'd love to hear: do you enjoy Indian food? Would you try this recipe? What would you change in it?