Home cooked Chicken Tikka Masala to warm the soul

This week we’re making Chicken Tikka Masala - a tender, grilled chicken simmered in a rich, creamy tomato sauce infused with aromatic spices. Let’s get stuck in!

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Director, Chef and Host: Andy
Videographer, Editor: Mitch Henderson
Production Manager: Dazz Braeckmans
Editor: Caleb Dawkins

CHICKEN TIKKA MASALA RECIPE
Servings: 6, Prep: 45 minutes, Cook: 60 minutes

First marinade
- 1 kg chicken thighs, diced
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- tsp salt

Method
1. Place your diced chicken in a bowl with the other ingredients, mix well and leave to marinate for 30 minutes.

Second marinade
- Your marinated chicken
- 3 tbsp tempered mustard seed oil
- 1 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
- 0.5 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 tsp kasuri methi
- 2 heaped tbsp yoghurt

Method
1. Mix all the spices and ginger garlic paste together. Then add the yoghurt and mix again. Add the chicken from the first step, mix well and place in the fridge for 1-3 hours.
2. Place the chicken on skewers and grill over a hot charcoal barbecue for 3-4 minutes on each side or until you have good colour all over. Alternatively, if you don't have access to a charcoal barbecue simply place into a 220°c oven for 8-10 minutes or until you have good colour.

Tomato gravy
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 0.5 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 red onions, sliced thin
- salt to taste
- 4 tomatoes diced
- 1 green chilli
- small bunch of coriander stalks, washed
- 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
- 0.5 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
- 0.5 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 30g raw cashews
- 1 tsp kasuri methi
- 1.5 tbsp butter
- 30ml cream
- 1 tsp honey
- coriander, rice and naan to serve

Method
1. In a large pot over medium heat, add the ghee along with the cardamon, cumin and bay leaves and infuse for 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the onion and salt, stirring occasionally and cooking for 10 minutes or until the onion starts to brown and caramelise.
3. Add the ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric, garam masala, raw cashews, and kasuri methi, and stir well.
4. Add the diced tomato, green chilli and coriander stalks, a pinch of salt and 150ml water, stir well and cook for a further 20 minutes or until the tomato has broken down.
5. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. Remove the bay leaves before blending until completely smooth.
6. Return the blended mixture to the pot over low heat and add the butter, honey and cream, stirring well until the butter has melted and the cream is well combined.
7. Add the cooked chicken and stir well to combine with the gravy, allowing everything to heat through for a few minutes.
8. Serve with rice and naan and garnish with coriander. Enjoy!

[ninadjoshi]

Hey Andy. Mustard oil is heated up to smoke point to reduce its pungency just a little. Also, it gets some smoky characteristics to it by heating it up. That being said, in a lot of recipes (like Jhalmuri), you use raw mustard oil (not heated). If you don't want to heat it, that's fine, just use a little less, as it will be strong. Cheers!

[robhunt]

Hi Andy, I just wanted to say thank you, as your presentation, manner and execution are awesome, I spent many years working in 1, 2 and 3 Michelin stared restaurants, fine dining restaurants in luxury hotels and lodges, and at some point the wheels feel off the trolley, and I had a pretty bad breakdown, and as a result hated cooking for a long time! I'm a carpenter/builder now, and loving it!

I somehow stumbled onto your channel quite a while ago when it was still fairly niche, and I have cooked a lot of your dishes at home for my wife and 4 children, and as a result I have started to regain my love of cooking! The family are also grateful, although I have no intention of returning to a professional kitchen, I am enjoying sharing your recipes with my tribe in our family "restaurant" 👍😀

Once again

Many thanks and kind regards

Rob 🇳🇿

[NYJWR]

If you only have round skewers you can also use two and pierce the meat a little bit apart and it will work the same as flat ones

[wolfman]

We have found that the gravy freezes very well at the stage before you add the butter and cream. Freezing with the butter and cream added the sauce can have abit of a grainy mouth feel. Making and freezing batches of gravies and sauces is a great time and energy saver if you have the freezer space, especially those that take time like a ragu. Thank you for the recipe, take care, God bless one and all.

Resently rather than adding double cream we have been using canned coconut milk, adds good flavour. If you use coconut oil rather than ghee, those who are lactose-intolerant should be able to enjoy the dish.

[BreonNagy]

The production of this video is top notch. You guys are really killing it. Quickly becoming my favorite cooking channel.

[Rozkovar]

You can add a teespoon tip of tumeric powder to the garlic/ginger paste. That helps to make it last longer. In a fridge sealed in a jar it is usable up to 6 month.

[slumbercat]

I'm a former chef. I like your style, trying your recipe as we "speak". I cook a lot of Indian food, but it is easy to get stuck in my own rut, so I'm glad to try your recipe which seems to make sense from someone who comes across as no-nonsense and a professional. Thumbs up for your channel.

[mandysmith]

Making this for my family tonight. Can’t wait to eat it. The marinade smells Devine already.
Your videos are very informative and are not rushed so it’s easy to follow along. Muchos Gracias ❤

[PatSen]

Re Mustard oil: almost all of the mustard oil is cold pressed or ‘ghani’, hence it has pungency even higher than the rapeseed oil that some Chinese provinces use. Hence when cooking, it’s heated to smoking point and then cooled a bit to reduce its pungency as it would intrude into the aromatics.

However, there are dishes that call for the raw oil - mostly as a garnish at the end for exactly those same pungent notes. So one can use it as ‘garnish’ in baingan bharta, sarson da saag, in alu-bhatey (the Bengali mashed potatoes), in plain boiled red-lentils, in karela-mash, in jhal-mudi (an eastern snack of puffed rice. Equivalent of the western- Indian bhel); I like to use it in Russian salad and as a salad dressing where mayo is used; so instead I just use hung yoghurt and a dash of mustard oil. It’s delicious on steamed veggies too. Try it.

[frann.]

A fantastic dish Chef…your recipe instructions are well thought out and presented beautifully…such a joy to watch you cook! Thank you 😁😁❤️❤️👌👌👏👏

[shomikmullick]

Hi Andy. I'm so grateful for your amazing videos and passion for Indian food. I would love to share a small tip as I make this recipe often. I noticed you used a hand blender (easier to leave it in the pot and I do it often myself :p) but as you mentioned it is smoother in a standing blender. An additional step if you have the time is to let the heated mixture of tomatoes, spices and onions cool down and then blend it after. The cooled mixture retains a brighter, richer colour when blended than when it's hot. Hot blending can cause it to have a more faded less rich orange colour. I know a lot of restaurants use artificial colouring but this is one way to improve the colour. An additional step at the start for richer colour and a more nuanced spicy flavour is to use some dried Kashmiri chillis which have been warmed in water (in addition to the powder). Add it to the mixture and simmer before cooling and blending 😊

[phylliswurm]

Definetly a complex dish but beautiful and delicious. Thank you and great presentation as always. Yum.😊

[pascali]

Hey Andy.
One of my favorite childhood dishes in Austria was blueberry Kaiserschmarrn with cream.
Would be lovely to see your version of it one day.

[Mmhmm]

Just made this and it turned out wonderfully! I've tried several other recipes in the past with mediocre results, but this one is a definite keeper. Thank you for sharing!

[chrishewitt]

Definitely making this one soon! Love my Tikka Masala! As an ex-pat Scotsman living in OZ, this is going to be a go-to favourite. Oh, and got my cookbook yesterday... a beautiful book, with lovely photos and great recipes. Thanks, Andy and team.

[lailamcdaniels]

The explanations as to why to use certain ingredients like the mustard oil add a deeper appreciation to the entire recipe! Thanks so much!

[stefanukic]

Andy, you are the absolute best. Love watching your content. I'm an Aussie with a Serbian background, moved to Serbia a while back and I thought I should share a great recipe with you. A dish that is totally slept on is Serbian Fish Soup from the Vojvodina region (Riblja Čorba) made from river fish (catfish, carp etc...). Prior to cooking whatsoever, cut up the fish (always include heads and tails as you can extract the most flavor from them and they have the sweetest meat from the cheeks) and put the pieces in tomato juice to tenderize and marinate. Mince some onion (brown) and cook on low heat in sunflower oil or lard until fragrant and translucent. Add the fish and tomato juice and add water until submerged. Season with salt, pepper, vegeta, sweet paprika and spicy paprika (optional), also a pinch of sugar if the tomato is too acidic. Cook for approx. 40min, re-season if necessary and enjoy. Should be a nice deep orange/red color. Such a hearty dish and simple to make. We usually eat this as an entree prior to fried catfish, carp or bream (fried in lard or sunflower oil) with vinegar based potato salad (incl. red onions, pickles...). Hope you can get around to this one.
Much love,
Stefan.

[steveroberts]

I’m not usually a ctm lover but made it this evening and it was spot on. Marinating the chicken makes all the difference

[smartypants]

Quick tip about using scewers like Andys to make it easier to rotate the food...
Use two at a time👍

[devinmulvaney]

This looks like the most comforting dish ever with the amount of care going into it