Chicken Tikka Masala

 Another chicken curry recipe, but this one was so flavorful and tasty, I had to keep it. I got the recipe from a Jamie Oliver cookbook on comfort foods. I loved the yogurt marinade for the chicken and the accompanying flatbreads were different and good. I forgot to soak my wooden kabob sticks so I just marinated the chicken by itself and used our grill pan to grill everything separately. I also didn't allot enough time to make the parathas. Another good pantry recipe. 

Chicken Tikka Masala

Serves: 6-8

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes plus marinating time

Ingredients:

    1 level teaspoon ground cloves

    1 level teaspoon ground cumin

    2 heaping teaspoons each sweet, smoked paprika, garam masala

    3 lemons

    6 cloves of garlic

    1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger

    6 heaping tablespoons plan yogurt

    1 3/4 lbs skinless boneless chicken breasts

    3 fresh green or yellow chiles

Sauce

    2 onions 

    4 cloves of garlic

    1-2 fresh red chiles

    1 bunch of fresh cilantro (1 oz)

    olive oil

    1 level tablespoon ground coriander

    2 level teaspoons turmeric

    6 tablespoons ground almonds

    2 x 14-oz cans of plum tomatoes

    1 chicken bouillon cube

    2 x 14-oz cans of coconut milk

Steps:

1. Put the cloves, cumin, and 1 heaping teaspoons each of paprika and garam masala into a small frying pan and toast for 1 minutes to bring them back to life, then tip into a large bowl. 
2. Finely grate zest of 1 lemon, squeeze in all its juice, crush in the garlic, peel and finely grate in the ginger, and add the yogurt and 1 teaspoon of sea salt. 
3. Cut the chicken breasts into 2-inch chunks, then massage all that flavor into the meat. Skewer up the chicken chunks, interspersing them with lemon wedges and chunks of green or yellow chile, but don't squash them together too much. 
4. Place in a pan, cover with plastic wrap, and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight. 
5. For the sauce, peel the onions and garlic, then finely slice with the red chiles and cilantro stalks (reserving the leaves for later). Put it all into a large casserole pan a medium-high heat with a lug of oil and cook for around 20 minutes or until golden, stirring regularly. 
6. Add the ground coriander, turmeric, and remaining 1 heaping teaspoon each of paprika and garam masala. Cook for 2 minutes, then toast, and add the almonds. Pour in the tomatoes, crumble in the bouillon cube, and add 1 1/4 cups of boiling water. 
7. Simmer for 5 minutes, then stir in the coconut milk. Simmer for a final 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, then season to perfection. 
8. When you're ready to cook the chicken, drizzle it with a little oil, then grill on a hot barbecue, in a screaming hot grill pan, or under a hot broiler, turning until it's very golden and gnarly on all sides. 
9. Slice the chicken off the skewers straight into the sauce, reserving the lemons.
10. Simmer for 2 minutes while you use the tongs to squeeze some jammy lemons over the curry, to taste. 
11. Swirl through some more yogurt, sprinkle with the cilantro leaves, and serve with parathas of fluffy basmati rice. 

Parathas

Makes: 8

Time: 40 minutes

Steps:

1. Put 2 1/2 cups each of whole-grain bread flour and all-purpose flour into a bowl with a good pinch of sea salt. Gradually add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 2/3 cups of 2% milk, mixing until combined, then knead for a few minutes on a flour dusted surface. 
2. Leave to rest for 20 minutes, then divide the dough into 8 pieces and thinly roll out each pice to around 8 1/2 x 11 inches. 
3. One by one, drizzle and rub lightly with oil, roll up into a loose log, roll the log up like a pinwheel, then roll our with a rolling pin again to a flat round just under 1/4 inch thick. 
4. Cook in a hot oiled frying pan on a medium heat for 3 minutes on each side, or until nicely charred, then sprinkle lightly with salt. 
5. Transfer to a board and smash together to expose the layers. 

EAT