The sauce base or Masala here is done in a large batch. This can then be broken down into three and frozen in batches in order to use another day. It can also be used with a meaty fish like monkfish or vegetables if want to do something other than chicken.
Ingredients
Serves : 4-6
Prep/Cooking Time: 1 hour plus overnight marinating for the chicken
- 600g boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced
- 120ml strained Greek yoghurt
- 1/2 tsp red chilli powder or more if you want it spicier
- 1 tsp garam masala powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tbsp garlic ginger paste - this is a puree of equal quantities of garlic and ginger
- Squeeze lemon juice
- 1 tbsp oil
Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight or for a minimum of 8 hours.
Masala sauce:
- 6 tbsp sunflower oil
- 300g finely chopped red onion
- 2 green chillies, chopped, optional
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 2 tbsp garlic ginger paste
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 4 tsp garam masala powder
- 2 tbsp ground coriander
- 2.5 tsp ground cumin
- 1 litre tomato passata
- 480mls chicken stock or water if you want to keep this base vegetarian
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- 150 mls double cream plus a little extra for garnishing at the end
Method
- Heat the oil in a heavy based saucepan.
- Add the onions and season with salt.
- Cook until soft and dark in colour, but not burnt. Add the garlic ginger paste and green chilli and cook for about 1 minute.
- Turns the heat down slightly and add all your spice powders.
- Stir constantly in order not to burn the spices.
- Add the passata and cook slowly until the mix becomes very thick and all the liquid is almost gone, this will only take a couple of minutes.
- Add the chicken stock and allow to slowly simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Whilst this is happening you can start cooking your chicken. Remove from the heat and blend until smooth.
- At this stage separate the sauce into 3 even sized batches. 2 to be frozen for another time and 1 to be used now.
- Return today's 1/3 of the sauce to the pan and add the sugar and cream.
- Bring to a boil and turn off the heat for now.
To cook the chicken:
- Preheat the oven to 240oC.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge and thread onto skewers, if you have them, if not just onto a tray lined with tin foil.
- Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 mins, constantly checking and turning 2 or 3 times through the cooking.
- You do want a slight char on the chicken so don’t worry if it starts to darken. Remove from the oven and remove from the skewers if you used them.
To finish:
- Turn the sauce back on a low heat.
- Add the grilled chicken.
- Stir in and toss the chicken well in the sauce.
- Heat for about 2 minutes.
- Check the taste and adjust if needed.
- Place into the serving dish and garnish with a drizzle of double cream and coriander leaves.
- Serve with fluffy basmati rice and warm naan bread.
