This is the most popular curry in Britain! Believe it or not, but one in seven curries sold in the UK is a chicken tikka masala – no wonder it’s considered a British national dish.
I made this recipe in the Indian episode of my show, you can watch it here.
This is a recipe from my cookbook.
4 chicken breasts
For the marinade:
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves
3cm piece of fresh ginger
1 fresh red chili
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
150ml yoghurt
juice of 1⁄2 lemon
For the sauce:
2 onions
5cm piece of fresh ginger
1 tbsp dessicated coconut
2 tbsp ground almonds
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tsp garam masala
1⁄2 tsp turmeric powder
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1⁄2 tsp brown sugar
250ml chicken stock, hot
150ml cream
lemon juice, to taste
a few coriander leaves
Serves 4 • Prep 30’ • Marinating 2-8h • Cooking 45’ • A little effort *
Start by making the marinade: in a pan, dry-fry the cumin seeds for a minute until they darken. Take off the heat and put into a food processor. Peel the garlic cloves and the ginger. Cut the stem off the chili and put into the food processor together with the garlic and ginger and whizz into a paste. Add the spices, yoghurt and lemon juice and pulse again.
Wash the chicken breasts, pat dry with some kitchen roll and slash each breast crossways several times. Place into a glass dish and cover with the marinade, rubbing the paste well into the slashes. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours, or up to 8.
Once the chicken has finished marinating, make the sauce. Dry roast the dessicated coconut and almonds in a large saucepan. Once they darken and become fragrant, take off the heat and set aside. Peel the onions and whizz together with the ginger into a paste in the food processor. Heat the oil in the large saucepan, add the spices and the onion mix and fry on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, sugar and a bit of salt and cook for another 5 minutes.
Preheat the oven grill to high. Place the chicken breasts and the marinade onto an oven tray and grill for about 12 minutes, turning once, until lightly charred.
Meanwhile, add the hot stock to the sauce and cook while the chicken is grilling, for about 12 minutes. Then add the coconut and almonds and stir.
Cut the chicken into large chunks and add to the tomato sauce. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the cream and reheat.
Taste the sauce and season with lemon juice. Sprinkle some coriander over the curry and serve with basmati rice and naan bread.
Hi, Chicken Tikka Masala is one of my favourite Indian meal. It looks very tasty. I’ll try to follow your recipe. Thank you for sharing. Andrew