Chicken Tikka at Home: Restaurant-Style Pieces With a Yoghurt and Spice Marinade

The smell of a good tikka does not have to come from a restaurant kitchen. Chicken tikka is one of those dishes that works just as well for guests as it does for a weekend family dinner — and it is far simpler to make than it looks, provided the marinade gets its time.

Ingredients and the marinade

Cut one kilogram of boneless chicken into large cubes. Whisk together a cup of thick yoghurt, two tablespoons of mustard oil, a tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste, a tablespoon of red chilli powder, half a teaspoon of turmeric, a tablespoon of coriander powder, a teaspoon of cumin powder, a teaspoon of garam masala, salt to taste and the juice of half a lemon. A pinch of orange food colour is optional; Kashmiri chilli gives a good colour on its own. Coat the chicken thoroughly and leave it in the fridge for at least two hours, overnight if you can.

How to cook it

Charcoal gives the real thing, but an oven at 220°C for 20 to 25 minutes, or a non-stick pan over medium heat turned until golden on all sides, gets you remarkably close. For the barbecue aroma, set a small bowl with a hot coal in the pan at the end, add a few drops of oil, cover for two minutes and let the smoke do the rest. Do not keep turning the pieces, and rest them for five minutes after cooking — the juices stay inside and the tikka stays moist.

Serving

Pile the tikka onto a platter with raw onion rings, lemon wedges and fresh coriander. Tamarind or mint chutney and hot naan complete it. Leftovers, if there are any, make an excellent roll paratha or sandwich the next day.