Tikka masala is an amazing indian dish. It is pretty simple to make if you have basic asian spices at home. For the best result you should marinade the chicken at least a few yours before cooking. Plan ahead, it is worth the effort!
Ingredients
Paste
- 5g coriander seeds
- 2g cumin seeds
- 1g brown mustard seeds
- 10g garam masala
- 3g turmeric
- 6 big garlic cloves (peeled ca. 35g)
- ginger (peeled ca. 25g)
- 1 habanero chili
- 50g water
Chicken
- 250g yogurt
- 1kg chicken
- 1/2 of the tikka paste
- 8g salt
Sauce
- 800g tomatoes (pureed)
- 50g butter
- 1 onion
- 300ml heavy cream
- 7g paprika
- salt to taste
- juice of 1/2 a lime
Instructions
Paste
Roast the coriander, cumin and brown mustard seeds in an pan. Once they start smelling, stir them and let them roast for one more minute.
While this step is optional, the spices will develop amazing flavors doing so.
Its only 3 minutes work, don’t skip it. Also, do not skip adding them to the blender with the other ingredients later on..
Peel the garlic and turmeric, seed the habanero and mix everything together in your blender (or cut everything as fine as possible).
Did you add the roasted spices? Yes? Good.
Chicken
Mix all listed ingredients together. Cut the meat into nice pieces and marinade it. Let it rest for at least 2 hours or if possible, let it rest over night. Preheat a oiled pan and fry the chicken pieces at high heat until brown on both sides. Remove the chicken (still raw on the inside) from the pan and reduce the heat to medium level.
Sauce
Add the butter and the cut onion to the pan. Stir until the rest of the chicken marinade gets integrated in the sauce. Once the onions are browned, add the rest of your paste. Let it heat up to a simmer for a few minutes, then add the pureed tomatoes. Let the mixture heat up and add simmer for at least 10 minutes, or until the sauce starts to thicken in. Mix in the heavy cream and add your chicken. Let this simmer for at least 15 minutes so the chicken gets fully cooked.
Serve together with basmati rice or naan bread.
Tips
Personally I would add two pinches of sugar to the tomato pure in any european meal. If you want add some sweetness to it I would rather go with a table spoon of habanero honey instead.
