Chicken Tikka Masala (British Curry House-style)

Chicken Tikka Masala is Britain's most beloved curry, and almost none of it is true. The dish routinely tops lists of the UK's national dish, gets cited in political speeches, and anchors the menu at every curry house on every high street from Glasgow to Brighton. The popular origin story credits a Pakistani chef in Glasgow who improvised a tomato and cream sauce for a customer who found his chicken too dry. It is a great story. It is also one of several competing legends, including a famous bit of PR fabrication that has been confessed to in public. What is real is the dish itself: a creamy, spiced, faintly sweet tomato gravy that owes more to British Indian Restaurant cooking than to any single kitchen in South Asia.

That is the strange thing about CTM. It is an invented tradition, a dish with no fixed birthplace, no agreed-upon recipe, and a documented history of people making the history up. The Bangladeshi and Sylheti cooks who built the British curry trade rarely get the credit, while the dish itself got exported back to India as a tourist novelty. It failed a bid for protected EU status and won a place in the national imagination instead. So the next time someone tells you Chicken Tikka Masala is authentically Indian, or authentically British, or authentically anything, you can tell them the truth. It is authentically delicious, and that is the only part nobody disputes.

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Stuff I Use...

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10-inch Metal Skewers

Garam Masala (good brand)

Food-safe Rubber Gloves

Portable Single-burner Stove

Butane Canisters

My Cookware Set

My Dutch Oven

My Induction Burner

Deli Containers

Butane Torch

Sheet Trays

Cutting Board Scraper

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Yield: 4-6 people

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Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients

CHICKEN AND MARINADE

• 2 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs, diced into 1.5-inch cubes
• 1 cup full-fat plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 3 tbsp fresh ginger-garlic paste
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2.5 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
• 1.5 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground cumin, toasted and freshly ground
• 1 tsp ground coriander, toasted and freshly ground
• 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
• 0.5 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• Melted ghee, for basting

Gravy

• 4 tbsp ghee
• 4 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 piece cinnamon stick, about 1 inch
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 green chilies, slit lengthwise
• 3 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger-garlic paste
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
• 1.5 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 0.5 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 28 oz can pureed tomatoes
• 1/2-1 cup water or unsalted chicken stock
• 3/4 cup heavy cream, plus more for garnish
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1.5 tbsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves), crushed between palms
• 1 tsp garam masala
• Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Instructions

1. Whisk marinade smooth. Coat chicken. Refrigerate overnight, 6 hours minimum. Pull 45 minutes before cooking.
2. Skewer chicken loosely. Grill over high direct heat or broil 4 to 5 inches from element. Char both sides, basting with ghee on the flip. Pull when blackened in spots, just cooked through. Reserve drippings.
3. Heat ghee over medium-low. Bloom the spices cumin seeds, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay and green chilis. The goal is to infuse the ghee with spices and a light heat. Remove when finished.
4. Add onions to the spiced butter and cook until translucent. Add the ginger-garlic paste and cook until fragrant.
5. Add tomato paste, Kashmiri chili powder, coriander, cumin, turmeric, salt and cook for 2 mins.
6. Add pureed tomatoes. Simmer hard until mass darkens and ghee pools at edges, 8 to 10 minutes. This is the bhuna stage, non-negotiable. Add water or stock. Remove whole spices and bay leaves. Blend smooth with immersion blender.
7. Lower heat, stir in cream. Slide chicken off skewers into sauce with reserved drippings. Simmer gently to marry, then turn off the heat.
8. Stir in butter, kasuri methi, and garam masala. Taste, adjust salt as needed.
9. Optional dhungar: glow charcoal red over flame with tongs. Set in small heatproof bowl on top of curry. Drizzle ghee, cover tightly. Infuse, then remove. Rest covered 10 minutes.
10. Garnish with cream swirl, more kesuri methi, and/or torn cilantro. Serve with basmati and/or hot naan.

Butter chicken is a specific North Indian dish from Delhi's Moti Mahal with a tomato, butter, and cream sauce, while Chicken Tikka Masala is a looser British Indian Restaurant invention with a spicier, often brighter and slightly sweet masala gravy and no single agreed-upon recipe.

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