Chicken Tikka Masala

A lot of people avoid homemade curries because they presume there are too many ingredients and lots of steps to follow but this chicken tikka recipe uses my larder essentials and has only 3 simple steps- paste, marinade, cook. You’ll have half a tin of coconut milk leftover so I always make a half batch of my coconut flatbread to mop up the insanely tasty sauce.

Feeds 2 adults and 2 children genourously

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500g boneless chicken thighs

for the paste:

1-2 onions, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

15g fresh ginger, prepped weight

2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp mild curry powder

1 tbsp paprika

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp tomato paste

3 tbsp ground almonds

50g fresh coriander, roughly chopped

2 tbsp sunflower oil

400ml tomato passata

200ml coconut milk

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Place the chicken in a large bowl and set aside. Place all the paste ingredients in a food processor and blitz down into a rough paste. Add the paste to the chicken and coat the chicken. Cover and place in the fridge for 1-2 hours to marinade (if possible).

After 2 hours remove the chicken from the fridge. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the marinated chicken. Cook for 1 minute before adding the tomato passata and coconut milk. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered. Serve immediately with rice and coconut flatbread.