Chicken tikka masala

This recipe got a lot of feedback from pictures posted and people who saw it being cooked so thought I had better blog it as it is probably the new favourite curry in our house for a curry hating Luke. I will give you full amounts here for the recipe but I halved it as was just 2 of us.  Despite the longish list of ingredients it was a surprisingly easy and not to fussy recipe 

it starts with 

8 boneless skinless chicken thighs 

place these in a shallow dish that allows them to be laid out in one layer 

Then blitz or blend together 

2 garlic cloves

1 inch piece of ginger peeled

juice of one lime 

I red chilli

2 tablespoons or coarsely chopped coriander leaves

1 tablespoon vegetable oil.

Use this to spread over the chicken, cover and marinate for 2 hours

meanwhile fry 1 chopped red onion in 1 tablespoon of oil over medium low heat until starting to colour and softened. While you are doing this preheat your grill and line with foil for easy cleaning and grill the thighs for a few minutes on each side until slightly scorched in places and nearly cooked.  Marinade needs to be brushed off before grilling but saved

then stir through the onion 

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin

and cook for 2-3 minutes 

Then things start to happen, into the pan add

1 tablespoon tomato puree

300ml cream ( 284 ml tub works to)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

marinade left over from the chicken

bring to the boil, stirring to mix well.

At this point it looks pale and uninteresting, but add in the chicken and spoon over the sauce and baste it and stir a few times while letting it simmer for 5 minutes

It goes from this palish colour

And brightens up to almost luminous.  Season near the end to your liking and serve with rice or Naan bread or whatever you fancy.  I sprinkled with added coriander

This was not Hot spice wise but it was very spicy and punchy with the lemon and lime and gentle warmth from the chilli and spices.  Very good curry for people who like flavour but don't want their socks blown off. The recipe is from Masterchef cookery course Learn to love cooking book. So far everything I have made from there has come out as it said it should and flavours have been amazing. It's not a book full of flash cooking in most cases but more a case of 'normal' ( how I hate the word normal! ) done very well.