Quick & Easy Chicken Tikka Masala – Creamy Chicken Curry Recipe

Hello , this is Chef John from food wishes dot com with Chicken Tikka Masala .

That's right .

I wanna show you my fast and easy take on this very popular chicken curry dish .

And if you're thinking finally , he's listened to my food Wish for Indian food .

Well , keep wishing because apparently this was invented in England , which is fine because if it comes from England , you know , it's gonna be tasty , but regardless , just an incredibly delicious recipe and no wonder this is one of Britain's national dishes .

Swim bow .

I have some boneless skinless chicken thighs .

Traditionally , this is done with chicken breast , but for my version , chicken thighs are gonna work better and we're gonna go ahead and drizzle that with vegetable oil and then add a whole bunch of spices .

So we'll start with some salt .

We'll also need some freshly ground black pepper , some turmeric , so beautiful , some garam masala .

That is an Indian spice blend .

We also want some cumin and some coriander .

I'm also gonna toss in some cayenne and some smoked paprika and then last but not least a little bit of ground cardamom .

And then what we'll do is we'll mix this up until that stuff is all coated thoroughly and evenly and please do yourselves a favor .

Mix the spices first , then put it over the chicken , then mix it up since I just dumped them all in and then tried to mix it took me like way too long and I will never get those 10 minutes of my life back .

But anyway , eventually I got it all mixed in there .

And at that point , we're ready to brown our chicken in this clarified butter .

OK ?

In an Indian restaurant , they would call this , gee , but all you need to do is melt some butter or microwave some butter skim off the foamy white part because all we're interested in is this pure golden butter fat .

And once we have that , we'll put a couple of tablespoons in a heavy duty skillet set on high heat and we'll go ahead and we'll brown our chicken thighs and we're doing this for two reasons .

Obviously , we like to brown our meats before we cook them in the sauce generally .

But above and beyond that , we're also toasting those spices on the surface of the chicken , which is just gonna make everything taste better , which is why we do it .

So we want those th nicely brown in that clarified butter .

And what we'll do once that's happened is remove those pieces of chicken to a bowl to rest .

Just go ahead and set that aside because once it's cool , we're gonna cut those into smaller pieces and then right in the same pan , right in that same clarified butter , we're gonna add one chopped onion .

We will lower our heat down to medium high and we will saute that for about five or six minutes just until the onions start to soften and turn translucent .

You know , the drill .

And obviously we're building up a very delicious fond .

All right , it started with that spice chicken .

Now we're adding the goodness of the onion .

So like I said , we'll saute those onions until they look like this .

At which point we're gonna add some tomato paste .

Oh And by the way , if you're wondering what happened to those delicious saut Ed sounds , I had to turn on the fan , which sounds terrible .

But anyway , we'll add in some tomato paste and we'll stir that into the onions and we're gonna cook that for about five or six minutes until that tomato paste kind of Caramelizes a little OK .

Initially , the moisture in that tomato paste is gonna sort of deglaze the bottom .

But then relatively quickly , it will re caramelize to the bottom .

At which point we're gonna add a whole bunch of crushed garlic and freshly grated ginger and we'll just cook that for about a minute .

And then we'll do a little bit of an unusual step .

We're gonna deglaze the pan , but we're gonna use crushed tomatoes .

So I'm gonna dump in some crushed tomatoes or tomato puree I think those are pretty much the same thing .

And just like if we deglaze with stock or wine , those crushed tomatoes are gonna liberate all that amazing goodness from the bottom of the pan .

So you can see that our fond has been dissolved .

OK ?

So stir that around until the bottom of the pan looks kind of clean .

And at that point , we're gonna pour in our cream .

Now I'm gonna use coconut milk instead of regular heavy cream .

I think it's better for you easier to digest and a subtle sweetness from the coconut milk really works with those curry spices .

OK ?

But anyway , we're gonna stir in some coconut milk .

I'm also gonna add a nice big splash of chicken stock or broth .

And then what we want to do is bring this to a simmer , adjust the heat to medium low and just let it simmer for about 15 minutes .

Of course , you want to give it a stir once in a while .

We want to let that cook a little bit to let everything kind of melt together .

And while we're waiting , this would be the perfect time to go ahead and cut up your now probably cooled chicken .

So I'm gonna take those eyes and cut them up into what they call bite size pieces .

Although technically that depends on the size of your mouth , but go ahead and cut those up into two or three pieces each .

And at that point , we're ready for final assembly .

So at this point , our sauce is simmered for about 15 minutes .

I'm gonna go ahead and add some hot red chili flakes , some freshly chopped cilantro , also known as Coriander leaves in England .

And then we'll go ahead and dump in our cut up chicken along with any a juices .

Never , never discard accumulated juices .

And once we've stirred in that chicken and it's heated through , you're pretty much done .

Although I do like to simmer this for about 10 , 15 minutes , which I think is gonna make that thigh meat a little more tender and succulent .

So I did let mine simmer on medium low for another 10 or 15 minutes until my sauce looked amazing .

And the meat was tender , not fork tender , spoon tender .

And of course , you're gonna taste for seasoning and might need a pinch of salt .

It might not , but check anyway .

And at that point , this procedure is officially done except you gotta find some white rice , which I did .

And you'll notice I did a beautiful rice presentation using a Rama and I was gonna spoon over just a few pieces so I could do a beautiful , elegant looking plates .

But unfortunately , I was hypnotized by the aroma and gorgeous appearance of this mixture .

And I just kept spooning and kept spooning until I'd spooned down enough for like three people .

In hindsight though , I'm totally fine with my decision .

And at that point , we only have two things left to do .

Garnish that with some lime and some cilantro and eat .

And although my portion size was way too big , at least my cilantro leafs stuck together .

Hate when that happens .

There we go .

But anyway , we're gonna garnish with some cilantro and fresh lime .

And Bob's your uncle .

You're done .

I have no idea what that expression means , but I love using it and I'm not being cheeky .

The other thing I love is eating this .

It is so incredibly delicious , that moist , perfectly tender chicken , swimming in that gorgeous sauce .

Like I said earlier , I really like how that little bit of subtle sweetness in the coconut milk works with these curry spices .

Just a beautiful , beautiful combination .

So anyway , if you've always wanted to make a curry , but we're kind of afraid , hey , they are a little intimidating .

This would be a great recipe to start with .

So I really do hope you give it a try .

Head over to food wishes dot com for all the ingredient amounts and more info as usual and as always enjoy .