This Malai Chicken Tikka is the recipe I make whenever my family is coming for dinner. We all love this tender creamy chicken.
Ramsha Baig
Usually talking, you could’t without a doubt cross wrong with marinate and grill sort of days. So quick, so smooth, minimum prep, a lot flavour and SO smooth to serve! Like, we are an own family who will luckily devour our grilled tikka type meals with our bare palms with most effective a chutney at the aspect, so I imply, does home cooked food get less complicated than that? On a higher day, I may serve it with a naan and salad too – but once more, such minimal prep if you’re getting prepared made naan.
It’s a splendidly simple recipe and doesn’t use too much inside the way of spices, focusing on fresh ingredients which includes yogurt, double cream, green chillies, lemon and coriander.
Ingredients for Malai Chicken Tikka
- Chicken, of route. I advise the usage of chook breast for this recipe as it holds shape a whole lot better for tikkas. typically speaking, chicken breast is used greater generally for grills and tikkas than thigh or every other piece. Having stated that, chicken thigh works notable too. that is simply a advice for aesthetics.
- Yogurt and double/heavy cream: makes the base for the marinate. I’ve used a 50/50 ratio of every, to ensure the marinate is creamy but without becoming too much
- Garlic and ginger: fresh, as I constantly suggest
- Cashews: add a beautiful intensity to the marination and it’s miles a important distinction. you may replacement this for skinned almonds, cream cheese or pass over completely – your Malai Chicken Tikka will still taste true.
- green chillies: this is what offers the marination the mild tint of green and truely, i really like it! i’ve used 4 in this recipe and the resulting degree of spice is very tolerable for a person who’s used to having highly spiced food. if you would like something with more of a kick, I’d endorse using 6 inexperienced chillies and for a right spicy revel in, you could take it up to eight-9
- Spices: a easy affair of salt, cumin, coriander and dried fenugreek
- Lemon: this provides flavour in addition to allows melt up the chicken, adding to the whole creamy, silky vibe we’re going for
- Freshly chopped coriander: flavour and colour. Is ANY desi recipe entire with out some freshly chopped coriander?!
How to make Malai Chicken Tikka
We start off by way of making our marinate: mixture yogurt (complete fat for the win!), double/heavy cream, cashews (elective but add a pleasing depth), ginger, garlic and green chillies collectively till they grow to be a great paste. You gained’t want to feature water to this, however when you have to, then add in a few milk instead.
Pour all this out right into a huge bowl and add for your spices, sparkling chopped coriander and lemon juice. mix well, then add in some boneless bird pieces. cover and allow this mixture to marinate for no less than 6 hours and a maximum of 24 hours (the longer, the higher)
A note on the spices – this recipe makes use of the spices cumin and coriander and i favor to crush the entire seeds in a pestle and mortar till they are coarse, and now not powdered. The reasons for this are
- You get a lot greater flavour crushing complete seeds rather than the use of powder. The depth of the spices is incredibly more.
- Powdered cumin and coriander are darkish in shade and might make the colour of the marinate darker. I much decide on the lighter, cream-tinged-with-green shade of the Malai hen Tikka and need to keep it. Coarsely floor cumin and coriander help keep it that manner.
So as soon as the Malai Chicken Tikka has marinated and is ready to be cooked, you have got lots of options for cooking, which include:
- Pan-frying, that is what I did: heat a pan with a small amount of oil and then add the bird, permit each facet to cook before turning over, allowing the chicken portions to colour. Don’t stir, simply flip the chicken. cook over a medium high heat until the juices of the chicken now not run purple – approximately 10 minutes.
- Air-frying: on excessive for 10-12 minutes
- Over an open fireplace/barbecue: placed the chicken pieces onto skewers and grill over the fireplace for approximately eight-10 mins, turning a few times in between to make sure even browning
- inside the oven: place right into a preheated oven at 170c for 16-20 minutes, until the juices run clear, flipping as soon as in among
How to get that AUTHENTIC chicken tikka flavour
he way tikka barbeques get that real, smoky and true tikka flavour is inside the method of cooking – over an open fireplace and smoke.
if you aren’t cooking your chicken Malai Tikka over an open fireplace, the first-class manner to duplicate that flavour at home is by the usage of coal to smoke your chicken.
To do that:
- Place the chicken right into a massive bowl. you could try this as soon as the chicken is cooked and additionally when the fowl is raw and sitting inside the marination.
- Use a small metallic bowl or make a small bowl using a bit of foil. positioned this ontop of the chicken
- Heat one piece of coal over a flame (from the hob, or from a lighter) after which once the coal is purple, place it onto the metallic bowl/foil
- Pour over some drops of oil immediately onto the coal, after which cover the massive bowl at once with a lid or plate
- permit everything to sit, smoking, for approximately five-eight minutes, then discover and dispose of the coil
Can I make this with lamb/mutton/beef?
You sure can! that is a extraordinary marinate that may be used for pretty tons some thing, including lamb, mutton, beef – even fish! You’ll want to boom the cook dinner instances though.
you may additionally use it with minced/floor meat too, forming it into kebabs!
How to store/freeze Malai Chicken Tikka
- The marination with the raw chicken in it will preserve for about 24 hours
- The cooked chicken portions will hold inside the fridge for three-four days packed in an airtight contained
- To freeze, you could freeze the raw chicken inside the marination and it will preserve nicely for approximately 6-8 months as long as the chicken and ingredients had been all of top of the line freshness.
- The cooked chicken pieces will remaining within the freezer for approximately 4-five months
How to Serve Malai Chicken Tikka
My favored manner to serve these beauties is with Naan, chutneys and a salad. you could additionally serve them with a parathas.
