Chicken Tikka and Tandoori Chicken (includes Thermomix method)

I've included these in the same post, as essentially one is historically derived from the other...

...and I see no reason in complicating things (as sometimes life can be complicated enough!) Basically, chicken tikka (usually boneless pieces of chicken marinated in yoghurt, ginger, garlic and spices cooked on skewers in a tandoor - or over hot coals, sometimes on the bone in Punjabi cuisine) is the boneless version (and derivative) of tandoori chicken (whole chicken, or sometimes portions on the bone, again cooked in a tandoor, or sometimes on a barbeque grill).

Serves eight - don't panic, easily halved! Plus you can freeze it raw or cooked for future use, or keep it in the fridge for a couple of days after cooking for easy lunchboxe fillers, to go on salads including my Indian cachumber salad (tomato, cucumber and onion with coriander and spices), even as a filler for wraps and sandwiches etc. and especially use it in my healthy Chicken Tikka Masala (which starts from only 281 calories per serving). It's so good it's worth making up at least the marinade in bulk, if not the chicken - a great recipe for barbeques, having friends over, the whole family, or to cook and use up in all kinds of ways over a few days.

I’ve used pre-ground spices in this recipe, for ease of use – but if you prefer, roast the coriander and cumin seeds whole (used heaped spoon measures, then toss in a dry pan and keep moving so they don’t burn, until fragrant), then grind them for a fresher flavour in a spice grinder, or pestle and mortar (or thermomix!).

Calories per serving: 160 if using chicken breasts, 218 if using chicken thighs (without skin).

Depending on whether you’re cooking this for an Indian Feast or a healthy meal, you can choose to use chicken breast (on or off the bone, lower fat than leg meat), or thighs/legs/drumsticks - either way, you use skinless chicken. On a healthy day, you could serve it with a small serving of boiled/steamed rice, or plenty of cauliflower ‘rice’ (my version of cauliflower rice with coconut, lime and coriander would go really well!), some delicious fresh Cachumber (Indian salad), a large mixed salad, and some yoghurt mixed with chopped fresh mint and diced cucumber (or cheat and mix it with some mint sauce from a jar! I didn't say that, mind you!). On a non-fast day, the works – you could even drizzle it with ghee at the end, before you grill it, to help get a blackened effect!! If you should happen to own a culinary blow torch, and you're not barbecuing your chicken, it's a great excuse to get it out at the end, and just give it a quick flash to get a few little charred spots on the chicken, tandoor style. I've used boneless chicken breast and thigh fillets in the recipe, as they're what most people would use (and it's not going to really cost you many more calories if they're on the bone, and you've skinned and portioned up a whole chicken). [Calories in square brackets for those counting.]

N.B. As you can see, there are no chillies, or chilli powder in this (traditional recipe) - the only mild heat comes from the ginger, so it's great for the family and kids too. If you want a bit of a kick, feel free to add a large red de-seeded chilli or two, or 1/2 tsp of hot chilli powder. If you're using this in my chicken tikka masala, you won't need to add any chilli, as there's heat in the sauce (unless you're a chilli freak!).

Ingredients

• 900g skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets/chicken thighs (or drumsticks or whole legs, skinned and trimmed of all visible fat - you could buy a whole chicken for this, portion it up into eight, and skin each portion) – either slice each portion of chicken 2 – 3 times diagonally across the thickest part of the meat for tandoori chicken (best on the bone), or cut into (boneless) chunks for chicken tikka [990 breast/1449 thighs]
• 2 tsp ground coriander (or 2 heaped tsp whole coriander seeds, then grind after roasting) [6]
• 1 tsp ground cumin (or 1 rounded tsp whole cumin seeds, then grind after roasting) [8]
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled [18]
• 3 good thick inches ginger root, peeled and grated (or sliced into coins for Thermomix) [11]
• 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered (100g) [41]
• 3 tbsp lemon juice [12]
• 1 ½ tbsp white wine vinegar [5]
• 2 tsp paprika [12]
• 2 tsp garam masala [14]
• 1 tsp turmeric [7]
• ¼ tsp ground cloves [1]
• 1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
• 200ml plain thick yoghurt (for lower calories use fat free yoghurt) [124]
• 8 sprays pure neutral oil spray to grill (or a little ghee brushed or drizzled over them) [32]

Method
If you want to serve chicken tikka on skewers, and you're using wooden skewers, then get them soaking for at least half an hour before you cook the chicken on them.

Toast (dry fry) the ground (or whole) coriander and cumin in a dry frying pan until it becomes just fragrant – keep it moving and be careful not to burn. Add to a food processor or chopping attachment to a hand blender, then add all of the other spices, onion, garlic, salt and ginger, with the lemon juice and vinegar (in other words, everything bar the chicken, yoghurt and oil spray).

Blend until relatively smooth. Add the yoghurt and blend again – if you happen to want bright red chicken, takeaway-style then by all means add some red food colouring – but my advice (if you want to do this) is to also add some yellow food colouring – otherwise you well end up with dark pink chicken, rather than orangey red chicken! Add the marinade to the chicken breasts/thighs.

Technically speaking, it's best to leave this to marinade for at least one hour, up to five hours or so, although not really much more, as the lemon juice and yoghurt both have an effect on the chicken a little like cooking (think ceviche), and you don't want to 'overcook' the meat and dry it out. 

Thermomix method
To avoid burning anything, with small quantities of spices I prefer to use a little pan on the hob as it only takes a minute or two - toast (dry fry) the ground (or whole) coriander and cumin in a dry frying pan until it becomes just fragrant – keep it moving and be careful not to burn. Remove from pan once toasted to avoid further residual cooking.

If using whole spices, allow to cool a little, then pulse on Turbo a few times (or grind on speed 10) until finely ground. 

Set the blades running on Speed 8, and drop the garlic, ginger and onion onto the running blades. Scrape down, and then add all of the other spices and salt, with the lemon juice and vinegar (in other words, everything bar the chicken, yoghurt and oil spray) and blend on speed 9 until paste-like (you may need to scrape down once or twice).

Add the yoghurt to the paste, and blend again at Speed 6 until incorporated – if you happen to want bright red chicken, takeaway-style then by all means add some red food colouring – but my advice (if you want to do this) is to also add some yellow food colouring – otherwise you well end up with dark pink chicken, rather than orangey red chicken! Add the marinade to the chicken breasts/thighs in a non-reactive bowl (not metal) and set aside to marinate.
 Technically speaking, it's best to leave this to marinade for at least one hour, up to five hours or so, although not really much more, as the lemon juice and yoghurt both have an effect on the chicken a little like cooking (think ceviche), and you don't want to 'overcook' the meat and dry it out.
 
To cook tandoori chicken: 
If you have a tandoor oven, lucky you – you already know what to do! For the rest of us, if you're cooking whole chicken breasts or thighs, tandoori style (see below for chicken tikka), you can choose whether you cook the chicken in a dish (and hence get more juices to drizzle over the rice etc. in the end), OR set it out on wire roasting racks in the oven, so it gets an even cooking/browning all over, but the juices are more likely to just burn underneath, so line the tin with foil).

(For Thermomix you can cook in the Varoma tray on scrunched up damp baking paper, with rice and other vegetables steaming - just add 1,000g cold water to the bowl, and cook 20 minutes / Varoma temp / Speed 2)

Either way, you can put the chicken under a high grill (broiler) right at the end, to get some colour on the edges (or use a culinary blow torch, to lightly char it in a couple of places, or cook it just through in the oven, then finish on a barbecue afterwards). Gas mark 6/200C/400F or thereabouts, your chicken breasts should be cooked within about 20-25 minutes, and thighs/drumsticks should be cooked in 35-40 minutes. Test the juices run clear (or if you want to be sure, cut into the thickest part to see if it’s cooked through), and enjoy!

To cook chicken tikka:
Pre-heat your grill (broiler) to high (unless you're cooking it in a tandoor oven, or an outdoor grill/barbecue, then fire it up!). If you want to serve it in a curry such as chicken tikka masala, then it's not worth threading it onto skewers if you have a fine enough wire rack to sit the pieces on. Otherwise, thread the chicken onto skewers.

Depending on the heat from your grill, and how high/close the grill pan is, it will probably take around 3-5 minutes on each side. You may want to turn your chicken around from top to bottom, or middle to outside halfway through, if your grill (broiler) cooks unevenly. Check your chicken is cooked all the way through (usually by checking the largest, thickest, least brown piece) before serving. Again, if you have a culinary blow torch, and you want a little charred spot here and there, this is a great excuse to get it out of the cupboard!.

Serve and enjoy, with some of the serving suggestions above. Or if you want to be a bit naughty and mix cuisines, try it with this Mango, Red Pepper and Coriander Salsa, which would compliment the spicy chicken really well (you could even put them in a wrap together, with a slick of thick yoghurt, some fresh mint and diced cucumber, and some leaves)... mmm!