The UK needs no introduction to chicken tikka masala—it's practically a national dish. Chicken green tikka masala is essentially a fusion dish that takes the more established flavours from this Indian dish and uses them in a different way.
The new tikka masala
Green tikka masala is not a traditional Indian dish. Nor, of course, is chicken tikka masala. But unlike it's more established UK counterpart, this one seems to have grown out of the creativity of a younger generation of Indo-American chefs who combined the flavours of Indian tikka masala with lessons learned from Mexican, Tex-Mex and Cal-Mex cooking. This is reflected in their recipes that can include distinctly non-Indian ingredients, such as jalapeño peppers.
On the whole, however, green tikka masala produces pretty mild dishes, perhaps something of which canny Indo-American chefs in their hipster eateries were conscious: not all regions of the USA like fiery food.
In many cases, they cook it tandoori-style in a hot oven—whether chicken or lacto-vegetarian paneer—or flame grill. Frankly, I let the ball drop this summer by forgetting to stick it on the barbecue. Essentially, it's not really a "curry" in any sense British people might know. It's more of a marinade, producing a drier dish devoid of the sauce we associate with the more traditional version of chicken tikka masala.
I'm throwing my hat into the ring with my own fusion take on green tikka masala. Here, the marinaded chicken is flash fried in a wok, much closer to Chinese cooking than Indian cuisine. The juice—and the spice (kinda)—comes from the substantial secondary dish, shamelessly stealing from the tradition of biriyanis; part of the main meal rather than an afterthought.
Apart from the marinading—it really is better if you do it for longer—this makes it a very quick and easy dish to cook; fairly low in fat. I'm including my recipe for my own version below. However, there are now some good readymade pastes—such as this one from Waitrose in the UK—and spice mixes by other producers on the market, including in the USA. These may not have exactly the same ingredients. NB: if making your marinade using one of the dry spice mixes, add the finely chopped coriander and rapeseed oil together in a bowl, together with the spice mix to get it to a nice consistency for a marinade.
Similarly, I'm adding a bit more spiciness to the secondary dish—because the idea of tikka masala without a little kick just seems wrong—but if you really don't like fire, add less chilli; if you love it, add more.
Of course, you can serve this meal with other accompaniments like raita or chutneys, but I'm not: why add extra sugar etc. when it's not needed?
The quantities here are for 2 to 3 diners.
Shopping list
For the chicken green tikka masala
1 large skinless chicken breast per diner, cut into bite-size pieces
2 medium brown onions, sliced
1 large bell pepper, red or orange; sliced
rapeseed oil, to consistency; approx 6 tbsns
3 tbspns peanut oil
1 tspn coriander seeds
1 tspn chili powder
A large clutch of fresh coriander, washed and very finely chopped
A large clutch of fresh mint, washed and very finely chopped
1 tbspns ginger & garlic paste
juice of ½ a fresh lemon
1 tspn fenugreek powder
2 tspns cumin seeds
4 or 5 curry leaves
1 tbspn desiccated coconut,
2 tspns garam masala
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1 tspn turmeric
For the mushroom, tomato and okra secondary dish
3 medium very ripe tomatoes (NOT tinned!); roughly chopped
Approx. 200g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
Approx. 2 tpsns yellow mustard seeds
2 tspns garlic & ginger paste
2 tspns of red chillies; finely minced with their seeds
2 handfuls of okra; topped and tailed
Approx. 3 tbsns peanut oil or sunflower oil
For the side dish
pilau rice (or naan bread, if you prefer)
Cooking method
Create the green tikka masala paste/marinade first. Using a handheld blender (or food processor) add all of the spices (except for the turmeric), the chopped coriander and mint, 1 tbspn of the ginger & garlic space and the rapeseed oil. Blend to a rough paste, adding a little water if needed. Use most of this to marinade your chicken, holding back only about 2 tspns. Cover and marinade in the fridge for 4 to 6 hours
Later, cook the secondary dish first. In a wok, heat the peanut oil on a high heat. Add the yellow mustard seeds and garlic & ginger paste while the oil is still heating. Sizzle for a few minutes when the oil becomes hot. Add the minced chillies and stir together
When the mustard seeds begin "popping", add the sliced mushrooms and mix the ingredients together vigorously. Cook together, stirring frequently until the mushrooms begin to show signs of browning
Add the ripe tomatoes with any juices and stir in. This will release liquid. Allow this to simmer in the bottom of the wok for about 10 to 15 mins, ensuring you stir the ingredients regularly. You still want the "chunky" slices of the tomato to remain slightly al dente, but for the juices to reduce
When the juices begin to reduce—taste it; are the flavours melding?—add the okra and stir in. You only need to cook for a further few mins. Again, you want the okra cooked, but a little al dente
Remove from the heat, decant and keep warm while you cook the chicken
In the same wok, add a little more peanut oil on a high heat. When it's hot, add the sliced onions and stir fry, adding the turmeric after a few minutes. Cook until they show signs of softening. Add the pepper and stir fry in the way you would with many Chinese dishes. Here you're cooking the ingredients slightly longer. Keep the heat high and try to avoid adding any additional oil—don't worry if the onions and peppers blacken on the edges: you want that to replicated the "charred" flavours of flame grilled or tandoori-style cooked dishes
When the onions and pepper are largely cooked, push to the sides of the wok. Add the chicken and all of its marinade, stirring almost continuously as it cooks on a high heat. It should take a few minutes. Again, don't worry about slight charring; embrace it. Once cooked, remove from the heat and stir the remaining green tikka masala marinade. Allow to rest briefly and for the paste's flavours to be absorbed
Serve with the secondary dish and pilau rice (or naan as an alternative)
Alternatives
This is a pretty new dish for me, so I really haven't had much time to play around with it. Essentially, the chicken is the only thing that stops it being vegan. For lacto-vegetarians, I did try a version with paneer. But, that really strikes me as only going to work if barbecued or flame grilled on skewers. A pescatarian version with large king prawns worked fabulously well; marinaded in the same way and wok-fried.
Hypothetically, I'd suggest it might work as a vegan dish with fairly large pieces of marinaded tofu or possibly aubergine. Dunno; can't stand behind an opinion until I've got around to trying it.
Pairings
Much like the alternatives, I've not yet got around to thinking a pairings. Tonight I'm having it with a chilled green tea because so far that's my best combo.
And, while we're here, please check out Karel's version, which will inevitably have the pairing that really matters.
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