Chicken Tikka Masala | Family Friendly Food
We love meals that are easy to prepare, healthy, that taste delicious and that also get a unanimous thumbs up from the whole family. This recipe ticks all those boxes. I’ve been making this dish for years, it’s stood the test of time and everyone still adores it.
So here's the recipe - I urge you to try it, it’s a really simple, tasty family meal.
Chicken Tikka Masala (Serves 4)
One of the reasons this dish is so effortless is because everything apart from the sauce and rice is cooked together in the oven. No standing over pans browning chicken and cooking vegetables!
What you will need:
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 pepper (red or yellow, or a mix of both)
- 2 - 3 small sweet potatoes
- 1 red onion
- Olive oil
- 400g (2 cups) of brown rice
For the sauce:
- 800ml tomato soup
- 4 heaped tbsp tikka masala paste
- 250ml (1 cup) Greek yogurt
- Salt and pepper
- Chopped coriander to garnish, optional
How to make it:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Place the chicken breasts in a casserole dish, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.
Cube the pepper, onion and sweet potato so they are all roughly the same size and place in a second casserole dish. Drizzle the chopped vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Pop both the chicken and the vegetables into the oven at 180°C for about 40 minutes.
Now start your rice. Place the brown rice in a pot with plenty of boiling water. Bring to the boil then lower the heat to a simmer. Cook for 30 minutes until the rice is plump and cooked through.
For the sauce simply heat the tomato soup with the tikka masala paste over a medium heat for about 10 minutes. Then add the Greek yogurt - and the dish turns from a very good chicken tikka masala into something spectacular - a delicious, creamy, tangy creation (I know because I’ve forgotten the yogurt before and it just didn’t have that je ne sais quoi!).
Leave on a very low heat until you're ready to add the rest of the ingredients.
When the chicken has rested for about 10 minutes, slice and add to the sauce with the roasted vegetables.
Finally heat everything together for 5 minutes.
At this stage I used to whizz up a portion of the chicken tikka masala in the food processor for the babies. Then I’d mix the puréed chicken tikka with the rice.
Serve with brown rice and garnish with chopped coriander.
A wonderfully scrumptious family friendly meal.