Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe Using Curry Paste

Indian food has to be hands down my favourite ethnic cuisine, and I seem to be craving Indian curries a lot this winter. It may be that living in France I am rebelling against the tasty but almost-always spice-free French food, but I am making a lot of Indian food at the moment.

Now – I am not entirely sure that Chicken Tikka Masala can claim to be an Indian recipe, and I know the Scots are claiming it was invented in Edinburgh. Either way – it is one of my favourite Indian/not-Indian dishes and another dish that Pataks make a fantastic ready made spice paste.

I do make this one myself using fresh ingredients, and you can actually improve on the ready made paste, but it is literally hours of work and mess. I will be adding my own special recipe at some point,. But for now – it is real hard to beat this using a ready to go spice paste.

For the marinade:

• 2 tablespoons Patak's Tikka Masala paste
• 2 tablespoons plain yoghurt
• 2 pounds chicken breast skin removed and cubed

For the sauce:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• knob of butter
• 4 medium onions chopped
• 3 tablespoons Patak's tikka masala paste
• 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, chopped
• ¼ pint cream
• ½ lemon
• handful fresh coriander, chopped
• 1 Bottle red wine (for the chef)

First – marinade the chicken in the yoghurt and tikka paste for at least two hours. Overnight if possible and mixing up several times during the marinading.

First – open the wine, pour and sip. Now to make the sauce. Now - add the oil to a saucepan, and fry the chopped onions until golden brown. Remove and keep in a bowl. Return the saucepan to the heat, add the butter and Patak's paste and fry for 2 minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 30 minutes until the tomatoes are completely broken down. Remove from the heat once again, and sieve into the bowl containing the onions. Use a wooden spoon to force the moisture through the sieve, leaving the tomato skins and pips. Discard the skins and pips, and return the onion and tomato mixture to the sauce pan.

Now cook the chicken. Place the meat on to skewers and cook in a pre heated oven at 375F for approximatively 20 minutes, until the meat is starting to brown. When the chicken is cooked, return the saucepan containing the sauce to the heat and heat on a medium heat. Remove the meat from the skewers and add to the sauce. Add the cream and cook the sauce through. Serve with rice or naan bread; squeeze the lemon and sprinkle the chopped coriander on top before serving.

Bon Apetit!