Chicken Tikka Masala

Here's a wonderful recipe for one of Britain's favorite curry dishes - chicken tikka masala. It is a highly spiced curry but one without a huge fiery kick to it, as it was invented in Glasgow, Scotland to cater for British palates. If you want to add extra chilies though, that's fine! This recipe can also be made using lamb or just use mixed vegetables for a lovely veggie curry.

For a standard chicken curry try my Easy Chicken Curry recipe. Or to ramp up the heat, go for my Hot Chicken Madras recipe!

• large onion (sliced)

• 2-4 green chilies according to required heat (roughly chopped)

• 1 inch cube of ginger (roughly chopped)

• 3 cloves of garlic (crushed)

• 1 tsp hot chili powder

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 1 tbsp garam masala powder

• 1 tbsp sugar

• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes

• tomato puree (approx. 1 tbsp)

• 4 chicken breasts (chopped to bite-sized pieces)

• 12-15 curry leaves

• natural yoghurt (low fat option) or single cream

• fresh chopped cilantro/corriander (approx. 2 tbsp)

With garlic, ginger and chili

As for any decent curry, firstly add the sliced onion to a large pan or wok containing about 1 tbsp of groundnut or vegetable oil. Cook the onion gently until softened and starting to go golden brown.

Add the chilies, crushed garlic and chopped ginger and continue to cook out for about 5 minutes.

Garam masala, chili powder, turmeric and sugar

Once the onion, garlic, ginger and chilies have softened and taken on some color, add the garam masala, chili powder, turmeric and sugar. Stir to thoroughly mix the ingredients and continue cooking on moderate heat until fragrant.

Add tomato puree and chopped tomatoes

Make a well in the middle of the pan and add the tomato puree. Stir it into the other ingredients and cook for a further minute before adding the chopped tinned tomatoes. Stir well and cook for a further 5 minutes.

This mixture should then be blended in a food processor, or using a hand blender, until it forms a smooth curry paste.

Re-heat the pan and add another tbsp of oil. Add the chicken pieces and stir, cooking until golden brown.

And curry leaves

Once the chicken pieces are cooked, add the blended curry paste back into the pan, and stir in the curry leaves.

Continue to simmer over a gentle heat for a further 15-20 minutes.

Cook your rice during this period

And chopped fresh cilantro

Once the curry is cooked and the rice is ready, stir in 4-5 tbsp of yoghurt (or cream if you are going for the rich, full-fat version!) together with a handful of chopped corriander (cilantro).

Garnish the completed recipe with the remaining chopped corriander (cilantro) and serve the chicken tikka masala with boiled rice and/or bread accompaniment (naan or rotis).