Chicken Tikka
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 4 - 6
Ingredients
  • Diced chicken breast (approx 600-800g, keep pieces fairly large)
  • ½ pot of natural yoghurt
  • 1 tsp minced ginger
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • ½ tsp chilli powder
  • 4 tsp dry tandoori powder (I use Rajah brand)
  • red and yellow/orange food colouring
  • additional salt if needed
Method
  1. Wash and drain your chicken pieces. Add half a pot of yoghurt to a clean bowl, then add 1 tsp of crushed ginger and 1 tsp garlic.
  2. Add 1 large tbsp of lemon juice (the acidity helps to make the meat tender), 2 tbsp of oil, ½ tsp chilli powder and 4 tsp of tandoori powder. If you are using a paste, I would use the same amount ie. 4 tsp of tandoori paste.
  3. Add ¼ tsp of red food colouring and a little yellow/orange colouring too, if you want a deep red colour you may use ½ tsp. Stir all the ingredients thoroughly. Taste your marinade and add extra salt if you feel you need it, I didn't add any but it really depends on what powder/paste you're using.
  4. Add your diced chicken breasts, coat all the pieces thoroughly and leave to marinate for as long as possible, preferably overnight (this was what I did). The chicken will take on all the flavours the longer it's been left to marinate.
  5. You can cook the chicken tikka in the oven, on the stove top (but this requires more oil and is best avoided if possible) or under the grill. I prefer grilling as I find it results it the look and smell of tandoori chicken cooked in a tandoor oven, it has that charred effect.
  6. I've threaded the chicken breasts onto metal skewers and placed under my grill. Add any leftover marinade on top of the chicken skewers, this will just cook over the chicken, don't throw it away! Let the chicken really brown, even 'burn' slightly in some places and then rotate and do the same to the underside.
  7. Once both sides were cooked, I removed the chicken from skewers and let it brown some more to allow parts that the grill didn't reach to cook thoroughly. This process can take between 20 - 30 minutes depending on how low/high the grill flame is.
  8. Lastly add some chopped coriander to garnish (optional). I've used frozen here; it's fine as long as you return to the grill and cook it through immediately, otherwise stick to fresh coriander.
Recipe by www.afeliaskitchen.com at https://www.afeliaskitchen.com/chicken-tikka/