Chicken Tikka Masala At Home

1. Fry the cumin seeds to bring out the oils and the flavour, chop the garlic and skin the ginger and combine this with the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add the natural yoghurt and lemon juice last and stir it in immediately otherwise it will curdle.
3. Chop the chicken into tikka pieces, which basically means chunks, add to the marinade and coat it thoroughly. Cover and leave to marinate overnight or for at least 4 hours.
4. To cook the chicken, pre-heat the grill. Place 4 pieces of chicken onto each skewer and grill until tender. To prevent the chicken sticking to the grill pan, try laying each end of the skewer on pieces of potato to raise the meat off the tray.
5. Serve with the masala sauce.

Alan's tips

1. To chop garlic, roughly chop it first then place the chopped garlic on top of some salt, using the blade of a knife and a twisting action (as if riding a motorbike), squash the garlic into the salt, simply rev and go!
2. To remove the skin from ginger try taking a teaspoon and just scraping it along the skin. A very thin layer of skin will be removed. If you buy or have peeled too much ginger, simply wrap the peeled ginger in a freezer bag and freeze it. This will last for up to 3 months and each time you need ginger, simply grate it from frozen

Masala Sauce

1. First make the ghee, also known as clarified butter, this is essential to Indian cooking and it's easy to make your own. All you need to do is take a knob of butter, place it into a heavy pan and melt it over a medium heat. Let the butter simmer for a few moments before taking it off the heat. You will be left with a sediment on the bottom of the pan, a clear golden liquid which is the ghee and finally a froth on the top. Skim off the froth and leave the remainder to cool for a few minutes. Then spoon off the golden ghee into a separate container leaving the sediment behind.
2. Heat the ghee in a medium saucepan and add the onions, stir in the onion and soften, but don't colour, for 3 - 5 minutes.
3. Then add the mustard seeds, chilli, garlic, tomato and coconut milk. Bring to the boil then simmer for 20 minutes and finally stir through the mint and coriander.
4. Puree in a liquidiser or food processor and serve with the chicken.