Celebrated Hannah's 14th birthday with Jamie Oliver's take on Chicken Tikka Masala cooked on the barbecue. It's a nice marinade for the chicken. I used a single tin of coconut milk and chopped fresh tomatoes.
Ingredients
Marinade:
1 level teaspoon ground cloves
1 level teaspoon ground cumin
2 heaped teaspoons sweet smoked paprika
2 heaped teaspoons garam masala
3 lemons
6 cloves of garlic
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
6 heaped tablespoons natural yoghurt
800g skinless boneless chicken breasts
3 fresh green or yellow chillies
Curry:
2 onions
4 cloves of garlic
1–2 fresh red chillies
30 g fresh coriander
olive oil
1 level tablespoon ground coriander
2 level teaspoons turmeric
6 tablespoons ground almonds
2 x 400 g tins of plum tomatoes
1 chicken stock cube
2 x 400 g tins of light coconut milk
Method
Without question, chicken tikka masala is a brilliant curry that makes people very happy. Of course it's inspired by fantastic Indian cooking, but is in fact an Anglo-Indian evolution, created to suit British palates. When you make it, you'll be super-proud – you can use top-quality chicken, it's loads of fun to marinate and grill, the method rocks, and it's highly unlikely you'll find a better expression. I love to make my own paratha breads to serve with it, too – check out the recipe at the bottom of the page. Dig a hole in the garden and get grilling!
Put the cloves, cumin and 1 heaped teaspoon each of paprika and garam masala into a small pan and toast for 1 minute to bring them back to life, then tip into a large bowl. Finely grate in the zest of 1 lemon, squeeze in all its juice, crush in the garlic, peel and finely grate in the ginger, and add the yoghurt and 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Cut the chicken breasts into 5cm chunks, then massage all that flavour into the meat. Skewer up the chicken chunks, interspersing them with lemon wedges and chunks of green or yellow chilli, but don't squash them together too much. Place on a tray, cover with clingfilm and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
For the sauce, peel the onions and garlic, then finely slice with the red chillies and coriander stalks (reserving the leaves for later). Put it all into a large casserole pan on a medium-high heat with a lug of oil and cook for around 20 minutes, or until golden, stirring regularly. Add the ground coriander, turmeric and remaining 1 heaped teaspoon each of paprika and garam masala. Cook for 2 minutes, then add and toast the almonds. Pour in the tomatoes, crumble in the stock cube and add 300ml of boiling water. Simmer for 5 minutes, then stir in the coconut milk. Simmer for a final 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, then season to perfection.
When you're ready to cook the chicken, drizzle it with a little oil, then grill on a hot barbecue, in a screaming hot griddle pan or under a hot grill, turning until it's very golden and gnarly on all sides. Slice the chicken off the skewers straight into the sauce, reserving the lemons. Simmer for 2 minutes while you use tongs to squeeze some jammy lemons over the curry, to taste. Swirl through some more yoghurt, sprinkle with the coriander leaves, and serve with parathas or fluffy basmati rice.
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