Chicken Tikka Masala, Britain’s favourite curry? I don’t know about you but I absolutely love Ruby Murray. 😉 Being Polish I was introduced to amazing Indian cuisine some 14 years ago and it was love from the first sight or taste rather!
Chicken Tikka Masala is considered by some a part of British cuisine or, dare I say it, British national dish even! It was invented to suit Western palates not used to the heat of traditional curries. Well, say no more, I love it no matter what. One thing I really love about it is that it is fairly quick and definitely easy to prepare in the comfort of your own home. I would definitely recommend it if you are on a budget but still fancy some take-away. This curry is your answer.
This recipe was one of the very first ones posted on my blog and I felt it needed to be brought to light with new photos as it’s simply too good to go unnoticed.
The recipe itself is based on one by Jamie Oliver of whom I’m a bit of a fan. The Chicken Tikka Masala page in his Jamie’s Dinners *book looks really tatty, stained and well used. I say that is definitely a compliment for good old Jamie. 😉
Overtime I have adapted the recipe to suit us as a family but overall haven’t changed it much but why would you reinvent the wheel? If something works then simply say “Hallelujah” and get cooking. 😉
*If you’re cooking for family with kids*
If you have been put off cooking curries because your kids don’t like spicy food, feel free to use my method. I prepare the spice mix without any fresh chilli whatsoever. This will give you dish which is still very fragrant, full of flavour and delicious but without the heat. We then simply use good quality chilli oil and drizzle it over our dished up portions. It doesn’t spoil the dish but gives us a good kick from the chilli we are after. I use Filippo Berio Chilli Oil* which is readily available and utterly delicious. You could sprinkle some dried chilli flakes instead if you’d rather, decision is yours.
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- Spice mix
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- Chicken breast in spice & yoghurt marinade
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- Frying onions and remaining spice mix until soft and fragrant
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- Reduced sauce
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- Pan frying marinated chicken pieces
You can of course enjoy this curry with simple basmati rice but you might want to try my recipes for Easy Indian Spiced Basmati Rice or Easy Turmeric Rice which can be prepared in well under half and hour and are utterly delicious. Add to it this Easy Naan Bread Without Yeast or my Easy Flatbread and your feast will be complete. If you are planning on the entire Indian banquet then add my Easy Butter Chicken Curry, Tarka Dhal with Spinach (Vegan) and Easy Cauliflower & Lentil Curry to your spread, both are family friendly and soo good.
In the meantime if you love cooking dishes from different parts of the world why not try my Roast Chicken Leftovers & Black Bean Enchiladas or One Pot Smoked Sausage Jambalaya? Admittedly, these couldn’t be further away from Indian curry lol but will give you a taste of other world cuisines for sure.
Jamie Oliver’s Inspired Chicken Tikka Masala
Ingredients
Spice Mix
- 6 cloves of garlic finely grated
- 1 thumb size piece of fresh ginger peeled & finely grated
- 1-2 fresh red chillies deseeded and finely chopped (see notes below)
- 1 Tbsp of mustard seeds black or brown are fine
- 2 heaped tsp ground cumin
- 2 heaped tsp ground coriander
- 1 Tbsp sweet paprika optional
- 2 Tbsp garam masala
Curry
- 3-4 chicken breasts 500-600g cut into large chunks
- 200 g natural yoghurt
- 1 Tbsp garam masala
- 1-2 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter) or unsalted butter
- 2 medium onions peeled and thinly sliced in half moons
- 2 heaped Tbsp tomato puree
- 20 g ground almonds
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 500 ml boiling water
- 2 heaped Tbsp creme fraiche or good glug of double cream
- Juice of 1 lime + more to serve
- small bunch of fresh coriander chopped
Instructions
- Start off by toasting your mustard seeds in a pan with a glug of oil. Once they start to pop remove them from the pan onto the food processor or pestle and mortar and add all the other ingredients for the spice mix. Mix thoroughly. If you do not have food processor or pestle and mortar you can prepare the spice blend in a bowl by mixing all the spices and adding finely chopped chillies (if using) and garlic and ginger (grated on fine grater).
- Once your mix is ready, put half of it aside and mix another half with yoghurt. This is your marinade. Mix it with chicken chunks and set aside for minimum half an hour but the longer the better.
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add sliced onions and the remaining half of the spice mix then fry gently for good 10-15 minutes until onions start getting soft.
- Add tomato puree, ground almonds, remaining garam masala, 500 ml of boiling water and 0.5 tsp of sea salt. Stir well and let it simmer until it visibly reduces and thickens (approx. 5 min), set aside.
- Now it's time to cook your chicken. I have tried cooking it on the griddle pan, under the grill and simply browning it in the frying pan which is my personal favourite as it's the quickest way and gives me the most control. Cook your chicken until nicely browned all over and cooked through. Remember not to overcrowd the pan so that it sears instead of stewing. You will have to do it in small batches.
- As soon as chicken is cooked, warm up the sauce, add creme fraiche/double cream and stir well. Once it boils, take it off the heat, add your cooked chicken, lime juice and freshly chopped coriander. Adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Serve with basmati rice, naan bread, some extra lime and sprinkle of coriander.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Calories are approximate, per 1 serving of curry without accompaniments and should be treated as a guideline only.
- If you want this dish to be kids friendly, you might want to omit fresh chilli altogether when preparing spice mix and use chilli oil to drizzle over your dished up portion instead. Alternatively, sprinkle over some dried chilli flakes. It works a treat and keeps everybody happy.
Nutrition
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I’m linking my Jamie Oliver’s Inspired Chicken Tikka Masala with the following pages:
Cook Blog Share hosted by Monika at Everyday Healthy Recipes and Jacqui at Recipes Made Easy
Cook Once Eat Twice hosted by Corina at Searching for Spice
Brilliant Blog Posts hosted by Vicki at Honest Mum Blog
World-Food Linky hosted by Jess at Jess Eats and Travels
Jessica says
I wish you could eat what you see online as this I could eat right now! I love a good old tikka masala and this one looks perfect. Thanks for linking up to my World Food linky! x
Jenny Paulin says
this looks very yummy indeed. I have almost all of Jamie’s cooking books and I love his recipes and TV shows. Been a fan since the start really.
Your version of his dish looks amazing Jo- such great photography too. Kind of makes me want to stick my fork in and eat some! x
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you so much Jenny! 🙂 Got to love good old Jamie lol! I like his style of cooking and similar to yourself got most of his books too! 🙂 x
Monika Dabrowski says
I love anything by Jamie Oliver and your version of this recipe sounds really good! Shared around!
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Monika! 🙂
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food says
I have heard that Britain is a hot destination to eat the most fabulous Indian food. I’ve never been, but this would rank up there at the top of my list for food to try! I absolutely love Chicken Tikka Masala, and yours is such a lovely dish. I can’t wait to make it for my fam!
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks so much Michelle! 🙂 Chicken Tikka Masala is really a gentle introduction to the most wonderful world of curries and the very first curry I’ve had too! I hope you guys like it however hot or mild you make it! 🙂 x
jacqui says
The new pics look fabulous and there is no reason for this recipe to go ignored anymore on your blog it looks absolutely delicious. I think you join a whole line of us bloggers revisiting our older post and reshooting. The next one I plan to revisit was my very first and its a great recipe but gets no traffic. Thank you for linking you new look Jamie inspired curry to #CookBlogShare
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Jacqui! It feels good having a bit of a spring clean doesn’t it and getting things up to scratch. It’s great to see how much we’ve learnt and improved but at the same time I’m thinking to myself – why couldn’t I get this right first time around, it would have saved me so much time now lol 🙂
Corina Blum says
It sounds delicious and the pictures are great! I’ve also got very used to making curries without the fresh chillies and then just adding extra chilli flakes at the end – I would have been horrified before I had children! My sister loves spices but won’t eat chillies so she will cook curries and other traditionally ‘hot’ recipes but leaves all the chillies out. I used to laugh at her but now I do exactly the same for my family! Thanks for sharing with #CookOnceEatTwice x
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Corina! Ha ha how parenthood changes us! I will go to any length not to be forced to cook separately for us and then the kids and not using chilli is one of them! Thank God for chilli flakes and chilli oil! 🙂 Hopefully one day our kids will understand and be grateful for our sacrifice lol 😉 x
jenny walters says
Great new pics Jo!I bloomin love this curry.Perfect with a cold beer!
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Jenny! Me too!! Oh and cold beer would be spot on! 🙂 xx
Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook says
This chicken tikka masala is calling my name!! It looks so mouthwatering!! Thanks for sharing, Jo. x
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you Jhuls! 🙂 Sometimes you simply can’t beat good old curry! 🙂 x
Cat | Curly's Cooking says
This looks so tasty. Your new photos are really lovely and definitely make me want to make this!x
joskitchenlarder says
Thanks Cat! 🙂 It’s such a delicious curry, I thought it needed a bit of an update to do it justice lol x
Eat Explore Etc says
It looks lovely! There’s definitely some who consider a good curry to be a British national food, myself included! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
joskitchenlarder says
Thank you my lovely! 🙂