500g of boneless organic free-range chicken thighs
1 tbsp each of garlic and ginger paste
65 ml natural yoghurt
½ tsp salt
½ tbsp chilli powder
½ tbsp veg oil
For the makhini sauce
40 ml vegetable oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 cinnamon sticks
5 cardamom pods
5 cloves
a good pinch of garam masala
a good pinch of garam masala
A few bay leaves
3-6 green chillies (depending on personal taste)
15g root ginger
750g tomatoes
75g cashew nuts
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tbsp tomato paste
50g butter
60ml single cream
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp kasuri methi (dried ground fenugreek leaves)
method
- wash the chicken. Pat dry in a colander and place in a bowl. Cut slashes in the meat, and using your hands add the garlic and ginger paste and salt, evenly massaging into the chicken pieces.
- Pour the yoghurt into a bowl and add ½ tbsp of the chilli powder. Whisk together and
- cover the chicken with the whisked mixture making sure it’s thoroughly covered. Add a tbsp of vegetable oil and keep mixing.
- Cover the chicken with cling film and marinate for minimum of 4 hours, overnight if possible.
- heat up a large frying pan and shaking off any excess marinade, cook the chicken pieces (without any oil) for 10-15 mins.
- Cool and cut into bitesize pieces.
- Cover with clingfilm and put back in the fridge.
For the sauce
- Peel and finely chopped the root ginger.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan on a medium to high heat
- When the oil is hot add the cinnamon, cumin, cardamom, cloves and a few bay leaves. Cook for a few minutes and add the chopped ginger. Cook for a further minute and add the green chillies
- Add the fresh whole tomatoes and stir, turn hob to medium and carry on stirring for a couple of minutes.
- Add 100 ml/ 3.4 fl oz of water and cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat, remove any whole spices, blend tomato mixture into a paste like consistency.
- Use a sieve to strain into a saucepan. Add a little water to get all the mixture out. Put pan over a high heat and bring to the boil.
- Use the blender to crush 2/3 (50g/1.8oz) of the cashew nuts add a tiny amount of water to turn the powder into a paste
- Once the sauce is hot, add the tomato puree then the ground cashew nuts add a little water to the blender to get all the paste out, add ½ tsp of chilli powder, 1 tbsp of honey and stir for about 3 minutes.
- Add the butter and swirl in the cream.
- In a small frying pan dry roast the remaining cashews and roughly chop.
- Add the chicken pieces, ensuring everything is piping hot before scattering over the toasted cashews and serving.