Easy Chicken Tikka Masala with a handful of spices so that you can recreate this dish at home. This is my quick weeknight dinner meal. The tomato-based curry is low carb and a real comfort meal. Adjust the heat by adding more or less red pepper powder.
For the marination, place chicken cubes into a large bowl.
Add in the yogurt, coriander seed powder, cumin seed powder, black pepper powder, turmeric, cinnamon, red pepper powder/cayenne powder, and ginger garlic.
Mix everything well so that the chicken is evenly coated with the marination. The longer you keep it marinate the better for the flavor, however, if you are in a hurry just marinate it as long as you can spare time and then continue with the preparation.
For the cooking process, heat up a deep pan and add the butter. Add in the onion and cook soft.
Add a piece of bay leaf to the pan and let it cook for a minute. This will bring out the bay leaf flavors.
Throw in the diced tomato and stir cook until a bit soft. Don't let them burn on.
Add in your tomato paste with the cream and mix the whole pan contents well. Pour in the water, mix again, cover and let it cook until tomato has softened considerably.
Now you can add in the chicken with the marination. Mix it all well!
Cover and cook on medium heat until chicken is soft.
Pick out and discard bay leaf.
Garnish with fresh cilantro (aka coriander)
Video
Notes
Use homemade Ginger and Garlic paste or finely chop ⅓ Ginger and ⅔ Garlic. You can prepare also ginger and garlic pastes separately. OR simply buy ginger garlic paste. Store-bought ginger garlic paste is convenient but the homemade version tastes better. The homemade paste is my choice because it tastes pure and mixes into the curry.