

Chicken tikka masala
Ingredients
- Spice mix
- 1 tablespoon ground coriandercilantroX
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 cup low-fat plain yoghurt
- 400g skinless boneless chicken thighs
- Sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 400g can crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup reduced-salt chicken stock
- ½ cup red lentils
- 1 teaspoon brown sugarlight brown cane sugarX
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon chilli flakes (or more, to taste)
- ½ cup lite evaporated milk
- ¼ cup fresh coriandercilantroX, roughly chopped
- Tamarind slaw
- ½ cup low-fat plain yoghurt
- 1 tablespoon Indian chutney
- (we used tamarind)
- 4 cups ready-made slaw mix
- ¼ cup coriandercilantroX leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 cups cooked brown rice
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Instructions
1 Combine spice mix ingredients in a small bowl. Add half the spice mixture to the yoghurt in a large dish and mix well. Add chicken and turn to coat. Cover and leave to marinate, refrigerated, for at least an hour (you can do this overnight).
2 Preheat the grill in your oven to 200°C. Line a baking dish with baking paper and put chicken pieces on top. Place under the grill for about 20 minutes until almost cooked through.
3 Meanwhile heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic to pan and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Add tomato paste and remaining spice mix and stir for a minute.
4 Add tomatoes, stock, lentils and sugar with a cup of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
5 Place sauce in blender (or use a stick blender) and blend until smooth. Add extra water if needed to thin down. Add sauce back to pan and bring back to a simmer.
6 Taste and add salt, as well as chilli flakes, to taste. Add evaporated milk and stir gently to combine.
7 Remove chicken from the oven. It should be almost cooked through. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces and add to sauce. Bring back to a simmer and cook for 2—3 minutes until chicken is cooked all the way through. Add coriander. To make slaw, combine yoghurt and chutney and stir through slaw mix and coriander.
8 Serve chicken with slaw and hot rice, garnished with sprigs of coriander.
What we did
- Cut the cream: Many chicken tikka masala recipes use butter and cream for the sauce. We used oil and cut the cream, replacing it with lite evaporated milk to slash the saturated fat.
- Boosted the veges: Usually the only vege in this recipe is tomatoes. But adding red lentils adds nutrition and, when pureed, also adds creamy texture. Serving this with a tasty slaw also adds to the vege count.
- Reduced the rice: We reduced the rice serving, and used brown instead of white rice.
Variations
Make it gluten free: Check ground spices, stock, tomato paste and chutney are gluten free.
Nutrition Info (per serve)
-
Calories 579cal
-
Kilojoules 2420kJ
-
Protein 39g
-
Total fat 15g
-
–Saturated fat 5g
-
Carbohydrates 65g
-
–Sugars 23g
-
Dietary fibre 12g
-
Sodium 630mg
-
Calcium 370mg
-
Iron 7mg
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