Tandoori Chicken Malai Tikka

Chicken Malai tikka is an Indian chicken dish, where marinated chicken pieces are grilled over charcoal. The grilled chicken is a super juicy, tender, and have the best smoky flavor. The flavors in this recipe are not overwhelming and are a mix of mild aromatic Indian spices like cardamom and kasoori methi. The meat is skewered on long metal rods and popped in the hot tandoor. The Tandoor quickly cooks the meat without drying it out.

Tikkas are bite size pieces of chicken cooked in a creamy marinade with yoghurt, cheese, ginger, garlic and chili. There is a balance of flavor from the creamy yoghurt along with the heat of the ground chili paste and warmth from the garam masala powder. And with a fresh squeeze of lemon, long with some green salad and simple yoghurt, coriander dip makes a complete delicious appetizer.

Yield: 6 Prep Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 30 mins Rest Time: 6 hrs 30 mins Total Time: 7hrs 10 mins

Ingredients:

First Marinade

500 gm boneless chicken cubes

1 tsp Ginger Paste

1 tsp Garlic Paste

3/4 tsp Black Pepper

2 tbsp Lemon Juice

Second Marinade

1/4 cup Yoghurt/ Curd

6 - 7 Cashew nuts

2 small Green Chili

1/2 tsp Cumin Powder

1/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1 tsp Kasuri Methi/ Dry Crushed Fenugreek Leaves

Handful fresh coriander

Salt as per taste

Smokey Flavor

1 piece Charcoal

1 tsp Ghee

Garnish:

Yoghurt and coriander dip

Fresh Green Salad

Lemon

Chaat Masala

Let's get cooking

1. Clean, rinse, and cut the chicken into cubes. In a large bowl, add the chicken, ginger paste, garlic paste, black pepper, lemon juice and salt. Mix it well and let it marinade for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

2. In a blender/ mixer, add in cashew nuts, green chili, cumin powder, Mozzarella Cheese, lemon and coriander and blend it to a fine paste. To a bowl add the curd and the ground paste and mix well.

3. Once the chicken is done with the first marinated, add the chicken to the second marinade paste and mix well.

4. Once the chicken is well coated in the paste, take the charcoal and heat it on a high gas flame until the coal has turned grey. In the bowl of the chicken, make a hole in the middle to place a smaller bowl (to keep the coal), put the coal in it and put the ghee over the coal. Immediately close the bowl tight enough so that the smoke from the coal does not release. After 10 mins, keep the bowl in the refrigerator to marinade for 5-6 hours or overnight.

5. Preheat oven @400 degree F. Remove chicken from the fridge and thread the pieces onto the skewers. Evenly divide the pieces between 6 skewers. Cook for 25-30 minutes turning them once in between until cooked through.

6. Remove from the oven. Generously brush with butter. Transfer the skewers to a platter

Serve hot with fresh lemon, curd and coriander dip and fresh green salad.

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