Tikka Masala

Who doesn't love a tikka masala, right? It's a classic.

First, I'm going to echo Jake Peralta and say, I apologise to a host of communities. This is my take on the recipe. It's probably in no way authentic, but it is pretty easy.

Ingredients

• an onion
• easy garlic
• 1 biggish tomato
• a chilli
• chicken breasts, 4 probably
• passata
• cumin, coriander (ground, and dried), tikka powder
• lime
• cream or yoghurt
• sugar, salt
• fresh corainder if you have it
• ghee

How You Do

I always do easy flat breads with this one. I do those first, and then cook the curry in the same pan. One, because it's less washing up, and two, because I really really like the pan.

This one goes well with rice or chips. Or both, if you're really greedy. Anyway. Make a start on your carbs.

You want a nice big lidded pan, like mine. Get it hot, put a good chunk of ghee in it. If you don't have any ghee, use a smidge of oil (vegetable ideally, or a blend of veg/olive is okay) and a blob of butter.

Chop up the onions nice and fine and stick them in the pan with the garlic and chopped chilli. Hang draw and quarter your tomato like it tried to win freedom for the Scottish peoples, and pop that in there as well. Cook it just a little, to soft the onion.

Slice up the chicken breast and get that in there. Sear it good on all sides, mix everything round.

Add the passata (I don't usually use a full carton), spices and a bit of lime juice. Eyeball it. I put a REALLY good scattering of the tikka, a moderate scattering of everything else, and a briefish squeeze of lime. Think about 1/4 of a lime. You could actually cut a quarter and squeeze that, but who has time?

Sprinkle on a little sugar and salt. Stir it up.

You're going to want to let this cook down. Get the lid on, turn the heat down a bit, and leave it alone for ten minutes or so. Check your carbs. Crack open a couple of beers. Choose a movie. (The Fall Guy is £7.99 on Amazon Prime, just saying.) Maybe pop those breads in the oven to warm up a little.

Check on the curry after 10 minutes or so and make sure the chicken is cooked through. Stir in some yoghurt. Couple of tablespoons should do it. TASTE IT! If you want it a bit mellower, chuck some more in.

Serve it up with whatever carbs you've cooked up. Some fresh coriander over the top might be quite nice, unless you hate it, obviously. Maybe a little blob of yoghurt. Get a fork and do a fancy swirl like in the picture.

Bon appetit!

Why I like it

It's a classic, innit?

This is one that is nice and quick.

You can adapt it for a slow cooker or pressure cooker without too much bother, but this is one I just kind of throw together to be honest.

Leftovers

If you've got meat and whatnot left, you can easily make these into curry slices, which are a lovely next-day lunch.

• Bit of shop-bought puffy pastry, quartered.
• Beaten egg around the edges.
• Spoon a bit on one half of each piece, fold it over
• Press the edges with a fork to seal and make look nice
• Egg wash on top (or milk, if you like)
• I can't remember if we put little holes in the top, probably
• Bake around 180/200 ° C for about 20 minutes
• Cool before eating!

If there's no meat left, just sauce, save it anyway! Pop it in the fridge. Warm it up next day and dip some skinny fries in it. Yum!

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Thank you for reading.

Let me know if you give it a go.