For the Love of the Stove

One of my friends bought a townhouse and wanted to invite my GNO (girls night out) girls over to show off his house and have us for dinner.  I offered to cook but made him pick the meal and I picked dessert - the first time I made the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake (which was my first post).  While he doesn't cook, he gets a weekly magazine that has a recipe of the week in every issue.  He saves the ones that he thinks sound good.  We went through all his recipes and picked this one for dinner.  The magazine is called THE WEEK and this recipe is from September 14, 2007.  (I made it in June 2010.)
Ingredients
Chicken Tikka
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 t table salt
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed of fat
1 c plain whole-milk yogurt
2 T vegetable oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minded or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 t)
1 T grated fresh ginger
Masala Sauce
3 T vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced fine (about 1 1/4 c)
2 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 t)
2 t grated fresh ginger
1 fresh serrano chili, ribs and seeds removed, flesh minced
1 T tomato paste
1 T garam masala
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes 
2 t sugar
1/2 t table salt
2/3 c heavy cream
1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro leaves
For the chicken: 
1. Combine cumin, coriander, cayenne and salt in a small bowl.  Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with spice mixture, pressing gently so mixture adheres.  Place chicken on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, refrigerate 30 to 60 minutes. 
2. In a large bowl whisk together yogurt, oil, garlic, ginger; set aside.
For the sauce:
1. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering.  Add onion and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly golden, 8 to 10 minutes.  Add garlic, ginger, chili, tomato paste and garam masala; cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 3 minutes.  
2. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, salt; bring to a boil.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
4. Stir in cream and return to simmer.  Remove pan from heat and cover to keep warm.
While sauce simmers, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position (about 6 inches from heating element) and heat broiler.  Using tongs, dip chicken into yogurt mixture (chicken should be coated with thick layer of yogurt) and arrange on wire rack set in foil-lined rimmed baking sheet or broiler pan.  Discard excess yogurt mixture.  Broil chicken until thickest parts register 160 degrees on instant-read thermometer and exterior is lightly charred in spots, 10 to 18 minutes, flipping chicken halfway through cooking.  
Let the chicken rest 5 minutes, then cut into 1-inch chunks and stir into warm sauce (do not summer chicken in sauce).  Stir in cilantro, adjust seasoning with salt and serve.  Serve with basmati rice.  Serves 4 to 6.