Every once in awhile I get hit with a brilliant culinary idea, something that seems so obvious that it is hard to imagine why I didn't think of it before.  Generally I go right to Google to do some searching and see if anyone already thought of it.  Even though nine out of ten times it's already plastered all over the web, the feeling that I get for that one in ten… that feeling is pretty awesome.

This was one of those times. This idea came to me one night while making a simple masala sauce for the British-Indian dish, Chicken Tikka Masala.  As I was making it, I thought about how this process seemed really familiar.  Loose the ginger and chile, add some parm, swap the cilantro for basil or oregano… it hit me how similar this sauce was to my normal Italian pasta sauce.  From there I began to think of all fun ways I could play up this similarity.  Normally I put tikka masala sauce over chicken.  Normally I put Italian sauces over pasta.  So why not put the tikka chicken INTO the pasta?

These Chicken Tikka Masala Ravioli are really unique in that they have grilled ingredients inside. I have never tasted grill flavor in a ravioli and it is a really great flavor. 

Grilling the filling. I marinaded the chicken overnight in a yogurt curry mix. 

Paneer is an indian fresh cheese.  You can substitute fresh ricotta, ricotta salata, or any fresh farmers cheese.

Preparing the filling to be turned into ravioli

I have a nice ravioli cutter to get the shape.  Plain squares work too!

Now that the pasta is done, get the aromatics ready for the sauce.

Saute the ginger, chile, garlic, curry paste before adding the tomatoes.

If you use crushed tomatoes, you can skip this, but I had to blend the sauce.

Boiling raviloi.

A perfect meal.  The surprise grill flavor, indian food mixed with pasta, what more could you want?

Dan Whalen is a blogger at The Food in my Beard; check Dan's Tablespoon profile often to try his recipes with creative international spins!