FOOD AND DRINK / Chicken Tikka Masala

Recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala

Prepare the chicken in the marinade at least 4-6 hours before barbecueing, grilling or roasting.

Serves 4

1 chicken, quartered

(or four chicken pieces, legs or breasts as preferred)

1/2 onion

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped

1 green chilli, chopped

Spices:

1 dessertspoon garam masala

(equal quantities of cumin seed, black peppercorns,

cinnamon, cloves, cardamom seeds, dry roasted in a

frying pan and ground, with a pinch of nutmeg)

red and yellow food colouring

(or 1 dessertspoon paprika powder)

1 large carton plain yoghurt

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon salt

Skin the chicken pieces, cut each in half, and prick all over with a fork. Make several slashes with a knife, cutting to the bone, put in a bowl and sprinkle with salt and lemon juice and leave for half an hour. Meanwhile, put the yoghurt, onion, garlic and spices into a blender and whizz to a cream. Strain. Mop the chicken pieces dry with absorbent paper, and paint with food colour, or rub with paprika. Put in a bowl covered with the marinade and leave for 4-6 hours. To cook, pre- heat grill to very high, or set oven to highest, 475F/240C/Gas 9. Shake off excess marinade, brush with oil, and grill for 20 minutes on one side, 10 on the other (not too close to the grill). Or roast for 25-30 minutes on a grid in the oven, or a shallow pan. Test with skewer. Take chicken off the bone. Serve with salad and wedges of lemon, with lemon-flavoured or saffron rice.

KNOWING YOUR RICE

In India there is a little bit more to boiling rice than boiling rice. First of all, there is choosing rice. It was some years ago that I first became aware that the grain was subject to a caste system there. I once took an Indian woman to a restaurant I considered very good, but she took exception to the rice. With distaste she called the waiter: 'We ordered basmati. This is patna, take it away.' As he removed the offending dish, she turned to me: 'Patna, you see, is so plebeian.' Ever since then I've been careful about the company of rice I keep. In the caste system, patna isn't far behind basmati, American long grain rice is in the middle, and pre-cooked, pre-fluffed, quick'n'eezy rice is, well, untouchable.

BASMATI is sweet and nutty, especially the best, which is aged for a year. It needs to be cleaned carefully then rinsed repeatedly till the water runs clear and no milky starch remains. Leave the grains to swell in water, soaking them for a further 20-30 minutes, then leave in a sieve to drain for another 20 minutes. To cook, you need one-and- one-third water to the volume of rice. Place in a heavy pan and bring to the boil, then immediately turn down the heat to its lowest. Place a tight-fitting lid on top, ensuring that no steam escapes - add a layer of crumpled kitchen foil. Cook for exactly 12 minutes. Then raise heat dramatically for a few moments. Turn off heat, and on no account lift the lid to look, and leave it to stand for at least 12 minutes more (or up to 30 minutes, it won't spoil). The grains will be perfectly separated. If you cut out pre-soaking, add one- and-a-half times volume of water to rice. Some Indians induce a little more flavour by gently frying the drained rice in a little vegetable oil before adding the water, and steam-cooking as described. Don't fry basmati rice roughly or the grain will break up into small pieces.

PATNA is more robust, and can be cooked in the same way. But the blunderbuss technique for cooking rice, imprecise but effective, is to half-cook it (5 minutes) in plenty of boiling water, drain, and finish cooking in a medium oven in a shallow dish covered with foil for about 20 minutes. Cook more than you want, because when cold it is excellent (don't tell your Indian friends).

(Photograph omitted)