C41 Balti Pre-Cooked Chicken Tikka

This recipe has been adapted for a single portion from a restaurant recipe with ingredient and cooking style changes. The first method described here is unusual in that the chicken is not cooked under the grill, but nevertheless produces tasty results. Alternatively, the chicken can be placed on metal skewers and cooked under a grill until the outside is slightly charred and cooked throughout.

Ingredients

For 1 Portion	Continued...
2 tbspn oil	1 tspn tandoori masala spice mix (see note 1)
1 chicken breast	¼ tspn cardamom powder (see note 2)
1 tbspn natural yogurt	¼ tspn salt
1 tspn lemon juice

Preparation

Cube the chicken breast.
Unless using cardamom powder, de-seed sufficient cardamom pods and grind to a powder using a pestle and mortar to make ¼ tspn.
In a small bowl add the yogurt, lemon juice, tandoori masala and cardamom powder and mix well.
Stir in the cubed chicken and ensure the chicken is evenly coated with the yogurt mixture.
The chicken can be used immediately or marinated for up to 2 hours.

Cooking - 8 min

Heat the oil in a wok, or similar utensil, over a high heat and add the chicken with its marinade, stir well, and cook, stirring regularly, for 2 min to seal the chicken.
Increase the heat to maximum and add 100 ml of hot water and the salt and cook, stirring regularly, for 5 min.
Cut the largest piece of chicken in half and ensure that it is fully cooked - it should be white throughout - then continue to cook for a further 1 min or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
This can be used immediately, refrigerated or frozen for future use.

Alternative Grill Method
Place the marinated chicken pieces onto metal skewers, allowing spaces in between, and cook under a hot grill, turning regularly, for about 8½ - 9 min until lightly charred on the outside and fully cooked throughout - cut the largest piece in half and check that it is white throughout - (it is difficult to specify times as grill temperatures and distance of the food from the heat can vary so much).
This can be used immediately, refrigerated or frozen for future use.

Notes

(1) The Tandoori Masala Spice Mix can be purchased at many supermarkets or from any Asian outlet and does contain some food colouring.
(2) Cardamom powder can be purchased at most Asian outlets.

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