Chicken Tikka No. 42
During lockdown I would make a curry once a week for Helena, Andrea, her sister who moved in with us, and myself. I always use the same ingredients, pretty much, but every curry would be different, sometimes very, very different.Â
Tikka No.42 is one of those curries, It has the same base as the others in terms of spice, but it was just amazing so it had to be written up.Â
I used chicken thighs in this curry, they’re so much more tasty than chicken breast and much more moist. I used the LetzQ Tandoor Ring to cook them, after trading them to the Parmjit’s Chicken Tikka marinade.Â
Cooking surfaces
BBQ Temperature
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Ingredients
- 1 batch of Parmjit’s Chicken Tikka made with 6 skinless and boneless chicken thighs cut into thirds.
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fennel seeds
- 25g butter or ghee
- 3 tbsp vegetable oilÂ
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 3/4 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 2 tsp nigella seeds (onion seeds)
- 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds
- 3 tsp sugar
- 1.5 tbsp tomato puree
- 2 Knorr chicken stock pots
- 400 ml water
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 300 ml Greek Yogurt (I use 5% Fage yogurt – avoid the really runny greek style yogurts)
- 1/2 tsp Maldon salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh coriander to garnish
Equipment
- Dutch oven – I use the Lodge Double Dutch Oven. The Big Green Egg ones will work fine too.
- LetzQ Tandoor Ring to cook your chicken before adding it to your curry sauce.
- For perfect rice every time we use Yum Asia Panda Mini Rice Cooker, it’s epic.
Method
Marinade the chicken
- Take 6 chicken thighs, skin and debone them and then chop into 3 pieces each.
- Make a batch of Parmjit’s Chicken Tikka marinade and pop the chicken in, stirring to make sure every piece is coated. Be careful as the marinade contains turmeric which will stain.
- Pop into the fridge for at least 3 hours, overnight is best.
For the curry sauce
- Setup your Egg for a direct cook at 150°C with your stainless steel grid.
- Into your dutch oven, put the butter, oil, fennel seeds and onions. Add this to your Egg.
- Cook for about 1 hour, stirring every 10 mins or so. You’re looking for the onions to soften and almost melt without getting them too brown.
- Now add all of your dried spices, tomato puree and sugar and stir in, coating the onions. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Now add your stock pots, vinegar and water and cook for a further 20 minutes. Allow the sauce to reduce a little.
Cooking your chicken tikka thighs
- Using 3 of the LetzQ Tandoor Ring skewers, fold each piece of chicken thigh in half and feed onto a skewer. You should have 6 pieces on each skewer.
- Raise the temperature of your Egg to 220°C and take out all cooking surfaces.
- Replace your rEGGulator or daisy wheel with the Tandoor ring.
- Lower the three skewers into the ring and allow to cook for 15 mins until the meat is about 80°C. Check it with a Thermapen. The gnarly bits of the chicken should have caught a little.
- Remove the skewers and set aside the chicken.
Pulling your dish together
- Set your Big Green Egg for a direct cook at 150°C (if it’s hotter don’t worry).
- Add your dutch oven of sauce back and add the Greek Yogurt and stir through. Allow it to warm.
- Now take your chicken off the skewers and add to the sauce.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Serve with some basmati rice, a naan, some chutney and a sprinkle of fresh coriander to garnish.
Curry sauce – point #3. Do really mean cook the onion etc for one hour at 150C. Doesn’t the butter burn it?
Yes at 150°C it takes an hour to soften and caramelise the onion. 150°C is a low heat.