Clara’s Chicken Tikka

My first weekend recipe, yay!

Still on the series: Meat Seasoning, today I’m sharing a traditional Indian chicken dish, chicken tikka which basically means boneless, skinless chicken. Originally baked in an oven and spiced with yogurt I used a grill pan and coconut milk. My taste buds have been dancing since yesterday,  just couldn’t wait to share it.

I used garam masala to season the chicken but in absence of that, feel free to use suya pepper because they taste alike except that the former doesn’t have ginger in it. This means there will be no need to add fresh ginger and garlic to the spice mix.

Serving meat doesn’t have to be boring anymore, the addition of tumeric gives the chicken a deep rich golden hue…let’s go there!

I used two different seasoning styles and found that the first method gives the most flavours so that’s what I’m sharing with us today.

Ingredients : ( serves 4 )

3 chicken fillet (boneless skinless chicken)

3/4 cup/200ml Mai Ling Coconut milk

1 teaspoon tumeric

2 tablespoons chunky peanut butter

1 garlic clove

1″ fresh ginger

2 fresh atarodo ( red scotch bonnet )

1 tablespoon chilli flakes

10-12 kebab sticks

1 double Knorr cube

1/4 teaspoon salt

Vegetable oil for basting

Method :

Soak the kebab sticks in water, set aside.

Blend ginger, garlic and the fresh atarodo with very little water.

Cut the chicken fillet into square chunks, place in a small bowl.

Season with tumeric, knorr cubes, salt and ginger, garlic blend. Add the coconut milk to the chicken, mix well then cover with cling film and allow to marinade for 2 hours in the fridge.

Once the 2 hours is over, take it out, add the peanut butter and garam masala powder,  mix to incorporate ingredients then skewer 3 pieces of chicken taking care to put same size of meat chunks together on one kebab stick.

Carefully baste with vegetable oil using a pastry brush.

Using same pastry brush, brush on a little oil on your grill pan.

Heat your grill pan and grill 3-4 skewers at a time, don’t crowd the pan and don’t let each kebab stick touch the other.

Let each side have a perfect sear before turning, once all the sides have been seared you can lower the heat and keep turning until the chicken is cooked.

Each batch should be done in 10-15 minutes, boneless chicken fillets cook fast and marinating also softens the chicken.

Baste with oil each time you turn the chicken.

Remove any burnt parts from the grill pan before adding a fresh batch of chicken.

Repeat process for each batch of chicken until they are all done.

Serve hot with fresh green salad or chips.

Azu 🙂 .