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Chicken Tikka Masala

Simon Majumdar

By Simon Majumdar
in India: Cooking & Baking

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Simon Majumdar

Simon Majumdar

Posted
Posted

Even though it is about as Indian as Alec Guiness in Passage to India. I am making this for friends tonight and thought I would share the recipe. It is delicious and works really well

Anyway

INGREDIENTS

For the chicken

4 chicken breasts cut into big chunks

1 large piece ginger

7 cloves fat garlic

4 green chillies

1 bunch corriander

1 large tub yoghurt

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ground corriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground red chilli powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground fennugreek

Juice of one lime

For the sauce

1 tin tomatoes

1 large onions chopped

3 tsp ginger garlic paste

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp ground corriander

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground red chilli powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground fennugreek

1 small carton cream

Method

blend the ginger and garlic into a paste in a grinder with some salt and a little water. Put half over the chicken and keep some for the sauce.

In a blender, mix the yoghurt, corriander leaves and chilles and lime juice and pour over the chicken. Add the lime juice and the dry spices and mix throughly. Cover the chicken with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least 5 hours ( better overnight )

When ready to cook, place the chicken on a foil layered baking tray and cook for 25 mins.

For the sauce just sweat the onion and ginger/garlic paste in oil and add the dry spices. Cook for one minute to allow the spices to lose their rawness. Add the tomatoes and a tinful of water and allow to cook for about 20 mins making sure it does not go too dry. When reduced to quite a thick sauce add the carton of cream and cook through gently.

Mix in the chicken chunks ( which should have been kept warm ) and warm through

Before serving, add corriander leaves and squeeze lime over the top

Very very simple and delicious

Hope you like it

S

A Scottish Chef

A Scottish Chef

Posted
Posted

Looks great, Simon. Completly different to how I do the dish, but I am going to have a try at this and serve it up to my family tomorrow night. I'll let you know how I found the dish and how it went down with my mob.

Thanks.

Simon Majumdar

Simon Majumdar

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
Looks great, Simon. Completly different to how I do the dish, but I am going to have a try at this and serve it up to my family tomorrow night. I'll let you know how I found the dish and how it went down with my mob.

Thanks.

That's not fair. You do this for a living :biggrin:

I was just born there............

Love to see what a pro makes of it and to see how you make it

S

A Scottish Chef

A Scottish Chef

Posted
Posted (edited)

It turned out a treat, Simon.

I used a dozen inner fillets from chicken breasts instead, charring them on a ribbed griddle pan before I baked them. I also blended the sauce prior to serving and thought the smooth finish suited the creaminess of the sauce very well indeed.

Layering 5 of the fillets centre plate, sauce drizzled around and finished with cracked black peppercorn and finely diced coriander stem also helped the dish look the part into the bargain. I took a pic and I'll see if I can find way to get it on here.

Incidentally, my fiancee is vegetarian so I used the same marinade for Quorn for her and served it with the sauce. Her verdict? Perfect! High praise indeed from the very fussiest of fussy ghetts to please as she is.

Finally, I'm not convinced about your claim that this isn't authentic (what is?) the sauce tasted and looked (once blended) incredibly similar to the Tikka Masala served in the New Annand Indian restaurant in Glasgow.

For anyone thinking about having a go at Indian, Simon's dish is as simple, and effective, as can be hoped for. Well done Simon :smile:

Edited by A Scottish Chef (log)
A Scottish Chef

A Scottish Chef

Posted
Posted
well as to authenticity... wasn't the dish itself CREATED for Scottish footballers?

There is a debate about the origin of the dish. Some restaurant in Birmingham claim to have made it for a Swedish King and there is a restaurant in Glasgow who claim they were first.

I know nothing about the fitba player :laugh:

Tonyfinch

Tonyfinch

Posted
Posted

According to Madhur Jaffrey the dish IS authentic and was first served at the Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi in the late 40s/early 50s. Their tandoori chicken was cut into pieces and put into a rich sauce of creamed tomatoes, butter and spices. It wasn't called Tikka Masala but the results were very similar to the dish we know today.

Suvir Saran

Suvir Saran

Posted
Posted
According to Madhur Jaffrey the dish IS authentic and was first served at the Moti Mahal restaurant in Delhi in the late 40s/early 50s. Their tandoori chicken was cut into pieces and put into a rich sauce of creamed tomatoes, butter and spices. It wasn't called Tikka Masala but the results were very similar to the dish we know today.

And we have on eGullet a family member of the Moti Mahal restaurant empire.

We have discussed this several times.

This dish is authentic Indian. But from the early days after the partition of India.

And yes Madhur does mention the same.

Simon Majumdar

Simon Majumdar

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted
It turned out a treat, Simon.

I used a dozen inner fillets from chicken breasts instead, charring them on a ribbed griddle pan before I baked them. I also blended the sauce prior to serving and thought the smooth finish suited the creaminess of the sauce very well indeed.

Layering 5 of the fillets centre plate, sauce drizzled around and finished with cracked black peppercorn and finely diced coriander stem also helped the dish look the part into the bargain. I took a pic and I'll see if I can find  way to get it on here.

Incidentally, my fiancee is vegetarian so I used the same marinade for Quorn for her and served it with the sauce. Her verdict? Perfect! High praise indeed from the very fussiest of fussy ghetts to please as she is.

Finally, I'm not convinced about your claim that this isn't authentic (what is?) the sauce tasted and looked (once blended) incredibly similar to the Tikka Masala served in the New Annand Indian restaurant in Glasgow.

For anyone thinking about having a go at Indian, Simon's dish is as simple, and effective, as can be hoped for. Well done Simon  :smile:

I am thrilled that you liked it and your Mrs too. I like the idea of char grilling first and blending the sauce. If I had actually liked the people I was cooking for, I may have gone to that trouble. As it was it was well received by all and the remains were even better the next day

Let's not get into the "authentic" argument. We have been down that route before and that way lies madness and the unedifying sight of Tony crying..........

S

Simon Majumdar

Simon Majumdar

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

Incidentally, my fiancee is vegetarian so I used the same marinade for Quorn for her and served it with the sauce. Her verdict? Perfect! High praise indeed from the very fussiest of fussy ghetts to please as she is.

Sorry. This horror just filtered through the fug in my brain

QUORN TIKKA MASALA!!

And you are going to marry this woman??

Get off the board you charlatan :raz::biggrin:

S

Tonyfinch

Tonyfinch

Posted
Posted

Sorry.  This horror just filtered through the fug in my brain

QUORN TIKKA MASALA!!

Well it is Scotland Simon. You've got to make allowances. They eat Mars Bar Tikka Masala up there.

A Scottish Chef

A Scottish Chef

Posted
Posted
Well it is Scotland Simon. You've got to make allowances.

Indeed. The biggest allowance we ask for is recognition that Angerland is stuck on our arse.

Mars Bar Tikka Masala? I wonder....

Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall

Posted
Posted (edited)

That looks good simon,

I'm going to try this recipe soon, i recieved a copy of 'Brit Spice' for christmas which was supposed to be authentic indian home cooking but has not yet been particularly successful, but this looks like the sort of thing i'm looking for.

Cheers

Gary

Ps Re: Quorn, i could never get my head around the fact that a 'food' could be made by a sudsidiary of ICI (imperial chemical industries) Have you ever seen a chemical plant!!!

Edited by Gary Marshall (log)

you don't win friends with salad

Simon Majumdar

Simon Majumdar

Posted
  • Topic Starter
Posted

I thought Brit Spice was a bit grim, sorry

This recipe is a hybrid of my own marinade for the chicken and a masala sauce from a "Curry Club" book

It takes a small amount of prep but the cooking is simplicity itself and the results are, even if I say so myself, fabulous

S

Gary Marshall

Gary Marshall

Posted
Posted

I didn't realise it was one of your publications.

It's a bit disjointed, it looked v simple starting with the basics spices/pastes etc and moving onto the recipes which i assumed would dovetail back into the basics, but the recipes don't seem to refer to exactly which 'basic' you should be using.

As a novice of indian cooking it was difficult to see what would be appropriate. However all will be forgiven if the CTM recipe works out !

cheers

matt

you don't win friends with salad

FoodMan

FoodMan

Posted
Posted

I love this stuff but never cooked it at home. I printed the recipe yesterday and made a batch of yogurt. I will marinate the chicken tonight and Tikka Masala will be for dinner tomorrow.

No

Quorn is a brand of textured vegetable protein for thos who have given up on life

S

Thanks for the clarification

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

FM

E. Nassar
Houston, TX

My Blog
contact: enassar(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Suvir Saran

Suvir Saran

Posted
Posted
I love this stuff but never cooked it at home. I printed the recipe yesterday and made  a batch of yogurt. I will marinate the chicken tonight and Tikka Masala will be for dinner tomorrow.
No

Quorn is a brand of textured vegetable protein for thos who have given up on life

S

Thanks for the clarification

:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

FM

FoodMan, your desire to try new things and the frequency with which you do so is very inspiring. I am sure your significant other is quite the happy one. :smile:

Will you remember taking photographs for us of the Chicken Tikka Masala?

How did you make the yogurt?

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