Chicken tikka masala

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.