If it’s the summer, you could cook the chicken on the BBQ
I don’t have a kitchen full of clever gadgets but there are a few items that I just couldn’t manage without. The one that I use for this recipe is my mini food processor
If you use a lot of ginger in your cooking, I find a ginger grater invaluable. It grates the ginger to a pulp and you get all the lovely ginger juice along with the pulp.
Allow 12 hours to marinate the chicken
Serves 4
TIKKA MARINADE
500g skinless boneless thighs cut in half
3cm piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole
1 whole green chilli, if you like heat, you can leave in the seeds
3 tbsp Greek yoghurt
3 teaspoons of gram or chickpea flour
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
½ tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 pinch of saffron, crushed (optional)
1 tsp fine salt or to taste
50g butter, melted
BUTTER CHICKEN SAUCE
30g unsalted butter
6 cardamom pods, bashed (a meat tenderiser works well)
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 red onion, finely chopped
4cm ginger, grated
2 – 3 red or green chillies sliced lengthways into matchstick strips and seeds removed
1 tsp of Kashmiri chilli powder
½ tsp garam masala powder
2 tbs tomato puree
200ml passata
200ml double cream
2 tsp honey
1 tsp ground fenugreek (optional)
Squeeze of lemon
Coriander for garnish
MARINATING
In a food processor blitz the garlic, ginger and green chilli. Add a splash of water to help turn it into a paste. Mix the yoghurt with gram flour in a bowl, it will form a thick paste consistency.
Add the ginger, garlic and chilli paste along with all the dry spices and saffron and stir well. Tip in the chicken pieces and stir well to make sure everything is coated and leave to marinate for a few hours or over night.
BUTTER CHICKEN SAUCE
Heat a heavy bottom sauce pan, add the butter and allow to melt. Add the cardamom, cinnamon and cloves and fry for 30 seconds, add the onions and sauté for 5-7 minutes on a medium heat until they are a light brown colour.
Add the grated ginger and slit chillies and fry for a further minute then add the chilli powder, garam masala, passata and tomato puree. Stir well and cook for a couple of minutes. Now gradually add the double cream stirring continuously to mix all the spices with the cream. Simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes.
At this stage add a splash of water if the curry if too thick. Stir in the honey and ground fenugreek and season to taste.
COOKING THE CHICKEN
Preheat the oven to 220C fan. Line a baking tray with foil and drizzle with vegetable oil. Spread out the marinated chicken on the tray and place in the oven for 25 minutes.
Add the chicken to the sauce, taste and add a squeeze of lemon if you think it needs more acidity and serve garnished with coriander and accompanied with a paratha, roti or naan to mop up all the unctuous sauce.
Ideal with:
Butter chicken
Ingredients
- 500 g chicken thighs, skinless and boneless cut in half
Tandoori marinade
- 3 cm ginger peeled and roughly chopped
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 green chilli
- 3 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- 3 tsp gram flour
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder (I use Kashmiri)
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- pinch ground cinnamon
- pint saffron strands crushed
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp butter melted
Butter chicken sauce
- 30 g unsalted butter
- 6 cardamom pods lightly crushed
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves
- 1 red onion finely chopped
- 4 cm ginger grated
- 3 chilli (red or green) slit lengthways
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 200 ml passata
- 200 ml double cream
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp ground fenugreek
- squeeze of lemon to taste
- coriander leaves to garnish
Instructions
Marinating chicken
- In a food processor blitz the garlic, ginger and green chilli. Add a splash of water to help turn it into a paste. Mix the yoghurt with gram flour in a bowl, it will form a thick paste consistency.
- Add the ginger, garlic and chilli paste along with all the dry spices and saffron and stir well. Tip in the chicken pieces and stir well to make sure everything is coated and leave to marinate for a few hours or over night.
Butter chicken sauce
- Heat a heavy bottom sauce pan, add the butter and allow to melt. Add the cardamom, cinnamon and cloves and fry for 30 seconds, add the onions and sauté for 5-7 minutes on a medium heat until they are a light brown colour.
- Add the grated ginger and slit chillies and fry for a further minute then add the chilli powder, garam masala, passata and tomato puree. Stir well and cook for a couple of minutes. Now gradually add the double cream stirring continuously to mix all the spices with the cream. Simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- At this stage add a splash of water if the curry if too thick. Stir in the honey and ground fenugreek and season to taste. Keep warm while you cook the chicken
Cooking the chicken
- Preheat the oven to 220C fan. Line a baking tray with foil and drizzle with vegetable oil. Spread out the marinated chicken on the tray and place in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Add the chicken to the sauce, taste and add a squeeze of lemon if you think it needs more acidity and serve garnished with coriander and accompanied with a paratha, roti or naan to mop up all the unctuous sauce.
Nutrition
Comments (1)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Wow! This is amazing and I really struggled to get it to the table with any sauce left after ‘testing’ it before serving aka could eat the lot from the pot.
I cooked the sauce for a lot longer on low in the oven and it was truly delicious. Make a massive batch and then don’t invite anyone to eat it with you. 😂