Chicken Tikka! (Kind of)

My Mom refers to this as her chicken tandoori recipe – I made it for friends during a recent boardgame night and it was deemed chicken tikka.

Whatever it actually is is irrelevant because it’s yummy, tastes like home (well my home at least) and is fairly easy to make. So easy that I make it practically every week and eat it for two nights in a row. What can I say, it’s easy to scale down for smaller portions and I’m unimaginative like that.

You want to be like me too and do this. Don’t lie.

2 chicken thighs (boneless and cut)/ 10 chicken wings (cut into two – wing and drummet separated)
2 Tbsps ginger-garlic paste
1 1/2 Tbsps chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin/jeera powder
1/2 Tbsp garam masala
1 1/2 tsps salt
1/2 cup lime juice
4 Tbsps yogurt
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Clean the chicken and place in a bowl. Mix all ingredients in with the chicken until evenly distributed.

Place in a container and let it marinate for 3 hours/overnight in the refrigerator.

When you’re ready to cook it, prep by taking the grill bit out of your oven, you can cover it with foil and slit it so that the marinade juices can run through and your chicken doesn’t DROWN in it’s juices and become a soggy mess.

I suggest you put some foil on the tray at the bottom of the oven so that your oven doesn’t become a masala mess.

After that preheat your oven to 180C/350F.

Put the chicken on the grill in the oven for 30 minutes, after 30 minutes flip it and bake for another 10.

Serve!

*You should check if it’s done by cutting into it. I’m not really clear on baking times to be honest.
** This is a Diniblini’s Mom’s TM Recipe 🙂

Channa Masala

This is like my fall back recipe. It’s my – hello I have no more creativity juices when it comes to food but want something spicy and that vaguely reminds me of home. Which is why during my undergrad I would make this every week and just keep it in the fridge. It’s kind of nutritious and tastes fairly good. It’s also cheap and doesn’t spoil easily. Oh yeah – you WANT this.

 

2 cans of chickpeas (500gm) – drained
1 onion – thinly sliced or diced
2 Tbsp ginger garlic paste (paste of 2 parts ginger, 1 part garlic – make at home or buy at Mustafa)
4 Tbsp curry powder (I use Baba’s Meat Curry Powder – any generic curry powder should do)
1 Tbsp chilli powder
1/2 Tbsp jeera powder (ground cumin)
1/4 Tbsp garam masala
1/4 cup tamarind juice
1 tomato – cubed
1 Tbsp ketchup
1 cup water
2 Tbsp oil (I’ve used both sunflower and extra virgin olive and both have been fine)
1 tsp salt

Heat the oil in a medium sized pot over a medium low flame.

Brown the onions. When done add the ginger garlic paste and fry until brown – keep a close watch because it burns easily.

When brown add the curry powder, chilli powder, jeera powder and garam masala (henceforth referred to as masala). Stir vigorously until cooked (oil will ooze out a bit). If necessary add more oil.

Add chickpeas and stir until the masala is even distributed. Add 1 cup water. Cook for 5-10 minutes.

Mash approximately 1/3 of the chickpeas mixture with the back of your spoon (this will act as the gravy).

Add the tamarind juice. Cook until it boils.

Add the diced tomato. Cook until the tomato is cooked (mushy-ish). Add ketchup.

Add salt, stir and you’re done!

Serve with rice or some other carb equivalent. Here I ate it with baked sweet potatoes and a cabbage salad. YUM. Disgustingly healthy stuff.

*This is a DiniBlini TM recipe 🙂