Tasty Creamy Chicken Tikka Masala best enjoyed with fried rice or naan bread surely deserves a place in your list of Must cook Chicken recipes.
Warning: If you have this Chicken Tikka Masala, you will never really like the ones served at restaurants or take-outs. Yes, guys! It is seriously soo tasty.
Talking of taste let me give you a slight idea of how this tastes.
So, basically, as you might know, this has chicken tikka pieces. Meaning, here we grill the chicken but I prefer frying it in the pan. It is easier that way.
Most importantly Chicken Tikka Masala has a tangy tomato-based gravy. So, you can guess that this recipe requires tomatoes. BUT, I don't use tomatoes. I know I should, but, I never do what I should do. I rather do what I want to do.
So, instead of chopping tomatoes and then making a puree at home, I prefer using Tomato Ketchup instead.
Tomato Ketchup is my little secret to make the best Chicken Tikka Masala. Why I like tomato ketchup is a question that many people have asked me. In fact, many of them took an offense when I said that I add tomato ketchup instead of tomato puree. But, I have always believed that I should make what makes ME happy. I don't like to use tomato puree. It brings unnecessary sourness to my gravy. I prefer a little spicy, a little tangy, a little chat pata (if you know what I mean) and there is nothing better than plain Tomato Ketchup than can do a better job.
How to make Chicken Tikka Masala? An Overview
Now that you guys have a basic idea about how this tastes, let's see the recipe in a gist.
Marinating the Chicken: First, we marinate the chicken with turmeric powder and salt. I try to keep the marination simple because I am already going to make a spicy gravy later on. Once I have marinated my chicken, I cover it with a plastic wrap and let it sit in the freezer for 30-minutes. This step is really important guys, If you want to make the best Chicken tikka masala there ever is.
Frying the Chicken: We will fry the chicken until nicely golden brown on both sides. This is exactly the thing that will make our chicken taste insanely YUM. You will love fried chicken pieces. If you can grill them then it cannot get any better.
Making the Chicken Tikka Masala Gravy: For the Gravy, we generally prefer adding some butter in the same pan where we fried the chicken and then adding a knob of butter and on that adding a little cumin, cinnamon, black peppercorns, mace, and cardamom. These whole spices along with butter will create a beautiful aroma. Into that, we add our onions and ginger garlic paste. We allow this to cook and in the meantime, we prepare a spice mix. In a bowl, we will mix thick yogurt with red chili powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, black pepper powder, and salt. Once the raw smell of ginger-garlic goes away we add this spice mix and finally cook this until oil starts oozing out from the sides. Finally, add your chicken pieces and some chicken broth. Add in 1 Cup of tomato ketchup and mix it well. Cover cook for 5 to 10 minutes and serve with some fresh cream on top.
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Chicken Tikka Masala
Equipment
- skillet
Ingredients
Marination for the Chicken
- 750 gm Chicken with bone (cut in 1 inch size)
- 1 Tbsp Salt or as per taste
- 1 Tbsp Turmeric Powder or Haldi powder
Frying the Chicken
- 2 Tbsp Refined Oil Or Canola Oil
Making the Chicken Tikka Masala Gravy
- 2 Tbsp Thick Yogurt Dahi
- 50 gm Butter
- 1 Tsp Salt or Namak
- 1 Tsp Turmeric Powder or Haldi Powder
- 1 Tsp Red Chilli Powder or Lal Mirch Powder
- 1 Tsp Cumin Powder or Jeera Powder
- 1 Tsp Coriander Powder or Dhaniya Powder
- 1 Tsp Garam Masala Powder
- 1 Tsp Shahi Jeera or cumin
- 2-3 pieces cloves or laung
- 3-4 Pieces Dried Red Chilies
- 1 Large Onion Chopped
- 2-4 Tbsp Chicken Broth
- 4 Tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 2 Tsp Fresh Cream for garnish
Instructions
- Marinate the chicken with turmeric powder and salt. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- In a pan add 2 tbsp oil and fry the chicken pieces both sides until golden brown.
- In a bowl mix yogurt with cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, black pepper powder, red chili powder and garam masala and keep aside.
- Take out the chicken pieces once they are golden brown on both sides. In the same pan add a knob of butter and throw in your dry spices - Cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, mace, peppercorns, cumin and cloves. Add dried red chiles and chopped onions. Add ginger garlic paste and cook on high until the raw smell of ginger garlic paste goes away.Add the masala mix that you had made and pour in 2 to 3 tablespoons of Chicken broth. Mix well and add your chicken pieces. Add tomato ketchup and mix well. Cover Cook for 5 minutes until the chicken is nicely cooked.
- Garnish with fresh cream and serve with some fried rice or naan.