Chicken Tikka Masala

When we came to the UK, we found that curries were given some strange names here, 'Chicken Tikka' being one of them. Not wanting to appear ignorant, I asked a Hindu friend back in Durban what a tikka was. When she indicated her forehead, I was totally nonplussed. I thought she was indicating brains, and I wasn't into eating chicken brains; they are too small to be of any significance and who wants to eat brains? Not me, that's for sure!

When she figured that I was asking her about food she laughed and explained: A tikka is the mark worn on the forehead by a Hindu married woman and, simply translated, it is a 'piece'. But when referring to food, it is pieces of meat. So a chicken tikka masala, I surmised, is pieces of chicken in a spiced paste or masala - well that's a curry isn't it? So why the fancy name?

With a bit more investigating I found that this description - pieces of chicken in a spiced paste - needed more elaboration: small cubes of chicken marinated in a yoghurt spice mix, then threaded on skewers and grilled over coals, or more particularly in a tandoor oven. Well, in my book, that's called 'Tandoori Murgh'. However, it seems this is still not quite what the dish has evolved into here in Britain, perhaps because it's not so easy to live an outdoor lifestyle in a cold, wet and miserable place like the UK is.

The first time we went to an 'Indian' in England - by that I refer to the British way of speaking about eating in an Indian restaurant - I decided I had to order Chicken Tikka, more out of curiosity than anything else. I was sorely disappointed though as what I was served I would have called a simple yoghurt-chicken curry - chicken pieces in a yoghurt-curry sauce - no skewers, no grilling, just big chunks of chicken in sauce! Go figure!

To cut a long story short, it appears that everyone has their own idea of what 'Chicken Tikka', supposedly the nation's favourite curry, should be. So I thought the best way to tackle it was to share a few recipes under their relevant names and you can make up your mind how to make a

'Chicken Tikka Masala'

Charga or South African Chicken Tikka (Chicken Braai)

Ingredients:
2 whole chickens
15ml chilli powder
5ml chopped ginger
5ml chopped garlic
15ml green pawpaw pulp (unripe papaya)
30ml yoghurt
salt to taste

Method:
Cut each chicken into four portions and make cuts across, but not through the thicker parts of the meat. Smear well with chilli powder, ginger, garlic and salt. Allow to marinade for 34 hours.

Two hours before cooking, mix yoghurt, green pawpaw pulp and lemon juice and smear over the chicken. Leave to marinade. Cook under the grill, on a cast iron grill, or best of all, on a braai.


Tandoori Murgh

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
30ml oil
30ml melted ghee
1 green chilli, chopped fine
5ml ginger, chopped
5ml garlic, chopped
5ml salt
5ml ground cumin
5ml ground coriander
2ml ground white pepper
30ml single cream
juice of 1 lemon
1 pineapple cut into 6 wedges

Method:
Preheat the oven to 200C.

Butterfly the chicken. Mix the oil and ghee together. Make a paste of the spices with cream, lemon juice and about 15ml oil/ghee mixture to make it sticky. Smear this paste over the chicken and allow it to marinate for 2-3 hours.

Place the marinated chicken in a deep-lidded roasting pan and bake covered in the oven for half an hour. Remove the lid and place the pan directly under the grill. Pour 15ml oil/ghee mixture over the chicken at 5 minute intervals until the chicken juices have evaporated and the chicken is cooked through. To check that the chicken is done, cut between a leg and breast; there should be no pinkness and any running juices should be clear.

Place wedges of pineapple around the chicken and braise under the grill for a few more minutes, removing before the pineapple looses colour. Serve immediately.


Makhan Murgh or Butter Chicken

Ingredients:
For the Tikka Marinade:
15-20ml lemon juice
100-120ml Greek yoghurt
2-3 cloves of garlic, made into a paste
1 inch root ginger, grated
2ml red chilli powder or tandoori masala
2-3ml paprika
10ml ground cumin
15ml vegetable oil
5ml salt

For the chicken curry:
6 deboned, skinless chicken thighs, cut across, but not right through the thicker parts of the meat.
2 inches root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
8 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
30ml vegetable oil
80-100g butter
2 black cardamom pods
4 whole cloves
8 green cardamom pods
1 inch piece of cassia bark
500g tomatoes, pureed
15ml tomato paste
2-4 small green chillies, whole but pierced
80-100ml single cream
10ml sugar
1-2ml red chilli powder or tandoori masala
5ml paprika
5ml garam masala
chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Method:
Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade, add the chicken and leave in the fridge to marinate for 3-4 hours, or overnight if possible. Bring to room temperature before cooking.

In a mini blender, blitz together the ginger and garlic for the curry, using a little water to make a paste. Meanwhile heat the oil and half the butter in a large non-stick saucepan. Add the whole spices and, once they start to sizzle, add the ginger and garlic paste and cook until the moisture has evaporated and the garlic odour is mellow and it looks grainy.

Add the tomatoes and tomato paste to the pan and cook down for about 20 minutes until the resulting paste releases oil. Reduce the heat and brown the paste for 6-8 minutes, stirring frequently. The paste should darken considerably. Pour in 250ml of water and bring to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat and pass the paste through a sieve, pressing the pulp to extract as much liquid as possible from the tomatoes and spices. Discard the solids and set the liquid aside.

Heat the oven to 240C, with the grill on as well if possible. Place the chicken in a foil lined tray on the uppermost level of the oven and cook for 8 minutes or until slightly charred. Remove from the oven. Cut the meat into large chunks.

Heat the remaining butter and add the green chillies, the prepared sauce, some salt and a good splash of water and simmer for 3-4 minutes. Mix in the cream, sugar, chilli powder, paprika and garam masala. Add the chicken to finish the cooking. Simmer, stirring often, for 4-5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce is lovely and creamy. If the sauce starts to get dry, add a splash of water and mix in. Test for seasoning. Transfer to a warmed serving dish and sprinkle over with the chopped coriander leaves.


Chicken Tikka Pineapple Skewers with Masala Sauce

Ingredients:

For the Marinade:

750g chicken breasts, cut in 1 inch cubes
3ml turmeric
juice of half a lime
100g Greek yoghurt
2ml garam masala
5ml ginger, grated
5ml garlic grated
5ml ground cumin
5ml ground coriander
5ml red chilli powder
10ml tomato paste
20-25ml vegetable oil

For the Skewers:

wooden skewers, soaked in water
5-6 x 1cm slices pineapple cut into quarters
50ml light brown granulated sugar
3ml red chilli powder
2ml garam masala

For the masala sauce:

2ml ground cumin
15ml butter
2 inch piece root ginger, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 green chillies, finely chopped
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
2 x 1cm slices of pineapple, shredded
15-20ml chopped fresh coriander

Method:

To make the marinade, Put the chicken cubes in a bowl and mix in the turmeric and lime juice, blending well. Set aside for about 30 minutes. Mix the remaining ingredients for the marinade with the chicken and season with sea salt. Cover the bowl with cling film and put in the fridge for at least 6 hours, overnight if possible.

Preheat the grill with the door shut to make it as hot as possible. Mix together the sugar, red chilli pepper and garam masala and sprinkle this over the pineapple pieces. Thread the chicken cubes on the prepared skewers, putting a piece of pineapple between each cube. Lightly grease a baking sheet and lay the chicken skewers on it, leaving space between each skewer. Grill until you have charring on the edges of the chicken and the sugar on the pineapple is caramelising - about 4-6 minutes. Make sure the chicken does not overcook or the chicken will be too dry. Remove, cover with foil and set aside in a warm place wile you make the masala sauce.

Heat a large frying pan and add the ground cumin and butter, moving the spice through the melting butter all the time so as to not let it burn. When the butter begins to froth, stir in the ginger, garlic and green chillies and fry until the garlic changes colour. Stir in the chopped onion and fry until soft. Add the shredded pineapple and stir into the onion. When the pineapple softens into the onion, add the chopped coriander, season to taste and serve with the chicken skewers.