Chicken Tikka Masala
By the Tapas kitchen · Updated
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 50 min
- Rest
- 1 hr
- Total
- 2 hr 10 min
- Yield
- Serves 4
Charring the chicken under the broiler gives the curry a smoky taste that chicken simmered raw in the sauce never gets. Before the cream goes in, keep cooking the tomatoes until the ghee beads up around the edge of the pot, or the curry will taste of the can.
Ingredients
Serves 4
For the chicken
For the sauce
The salt amounts here are for Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you have Morton kosher salt, use a little over half as much, because its grains are denser and saltier by the spoon.
Steps
- In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt and lemon juice with the garlic, ginger, spices and salt listed for the chicken. Add the chicken and turn it until every piece is coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to overnight; longer than a day and the acid turns the surface mealy.
- For the sauce, melt the ghee in a wide, heavy pot over medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and cook, stirring every couple of minutes, until it is soft and golden at the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Turn the heat down if the bits on the bottom start to blacken.
- Stir in the remaining grated garlic and ginger and cook for about a minute, until they stop smelling sharp. Add the coriander, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili and ½ teaspoon turmeric and stir for 30 seconds, until the spices darken a shade and smell toasted. If the pan looks dry and they begin to scorch, add a spoonful of the water.
- Add the tomatoes and the rest of the 1½ teaspoons of salt. Simmer uncovered, stirring often and scraping the bottom, until the sauce is thick, darkened to brick red, and the ghee beads up around the edge, 15 to 20 minutes. It will spit, so use a splatter screen if you have one.
- While the sauce cooks, set an oven rack about 4 inches below the broiler and heat the broiler to high. Line a sheet pan with foil, set a wire rack on it and brush the rack with the oil. Lift the chicken out of the marinade, letting the excess drip off, and spread it on the rack with space between pieces. Broil until charred in spots and blackened at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes, turning the pieces once halfway. It doesn't need to be cooked through yet.
- Take the sauce off the heat and blend it smooth with an immersion blender. Stir in the cream and the remaining water and bring it back to a gentle simmer. Taste: if the tomatoes still taste sharp, add the sugar.
- Add the chicken and any juices from the pan and simmer gently until the thickest piece reads 175°F inside, 5 to 8 minutes. Crush the fenugreek between your palms over the pot, stir it in with the last teaspoon of garam masala, and check the salt. Scatter the cilantro over the top.
Notes
The sauce can be made through the blending step up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated; the finished curry keeps 3 days and reheats well over low heat with a splash of water. If you can't find Kashmiri chili, use the same amount of sweet paprika plus a pinch of cayenne. Serve with basmati rice or naan.
To make more or less of it, paste the ingredients into our recipe scaler and it works out every amount.
