Last updated 10:00, Thursday, 30 October 2008

EVEN 20 years ago it would have seemed unbelievable that a curry dish would become the nation’s favourite food. Now it’s official – Chicken Tikka Masala is the nation’s most popular dish winning hands down against the traditional Roast Beef and Yorkshire pudding, trifle and even the Great English breakfast.

Creamy Chicken Masala: Traditional Indian cuisine with a touch of British style

The word curry comes from the South Indian word ‘kari’ and generally describes any sort of spicy stew that can be either mild or hot. There are literally hundreds of different ‘curry’ dishes from the Indian sub-continent. We tend to use the description curry as a general term but in fact there are many distinct regional variations. History has played its part introducing Portuguese and Persian influences on the food and religious groups within each state have modified the regional cuisines even further. A common denominator in all Indian foods is the use of subtle blends of spices which give them their unique flavour and appeal.

Chicken Tikka Masala is a good example of the way that Britain absorbs and adapts external influences in its cooking. Originally chicken Tikka was a fairly dry dish with the chicken cooked on skewers in a tan door which is a vat-shaped clay oven heated with charcoal or wood. The dish has now been adapted with the addition of a ‘Masala’ sauce making it much wetter and more like a meat dish served in gravy or a sauce which is more usual in British cooking.

This recipe shows just how quick and easy it is to prepare a simple curry dish and how easy it is to achieve the interesting mix of flavours with readily available ingredients. Apart from the marinating of the meat the whole dish takes only 20 minutes to put together and cook making it an ideal supper dish for busy people. The chicken can be put to marinade in the morning and then the dish quickly assembled when you are home from work!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

• Approx 4 cm (1 ½ in) piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 6 cardamom pods, lightly crushed (remove the seeds if you prefer)
• 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
• 1 teasp mild chilli powder
• Juice of a lime
• 1 fresh red chilli, de seeded and chopped small (optional)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 4 skinned chicken breasts
• 1 large onion peeled and chopped
• A little water
• 284ml carton of cream
• A little water
• To finish-a handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves.

METHOD

1. Put the ginger, garlic, ground coriander, crushed cardamom, turmeric, chilli powder, lime juice, chopped chilli and a tablespoon of oil in a dish and mix together. Add the chicken pieces and stir. Leave to marinate at least for a couple of hours and longer if possible.

2. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large shallow pan and fry onion until golden. Add the chicken mixture.

3. Cook gently and add a little water if the sauce is too thick. Lower the heat and then add the cream. Heat through.

To serve sprinkle the dish with fresh coriander and then eat with rice and Indian naan breads which are readily available in the supermarket. These are usually plain or flavoured for example with garlic and coriander.