Tray Bake Chicken Tikka

Who doesn’t love a simple one-pan dinner. Really easy, zero clean-up, and lots of flavour. I’ve used ready-made tikka masala paste, but tandoori paste would work too. If you can give the chicken an hour or two to marinate, over-night is best, it makes all the difference.

To finish just dollop on natural yoghurt, or coriander dressing, chopped coriander and a good squeeze of lime juice.

Ingredients

For the Chicken

• 1.6kg whole chicken, broken into 8 pieces or chicken thighs, drumsticks and breasts, bone-in, skin on
• 4-5 tb chicken tikka paste
• 1/2 cup natural yoghurt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4cm piece fresh ginger, minced
• 1 long red chilli, seeds and membrane removed, finely chopped

For the Vegetables

• 3 desiree or kipfler potatoes, peeled if liked, cut into 2cm chunks
• 1/2 small cauliflower, cut into 2cm florets
• toasted cumin seeds, ground
• Salt and pepper
• olive oil

To Finish

• Lime or lemon wedges
• Dollops of natural yoghurt or coriander dressing
• Roughly chopped coriander or parsley

For the Coriander Dressing

• 1 huge bunch of fresh coriander (2 cups packed)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tspn salt
• 1/2 tspn red pepper flakes or Sambal Olek to taste

Method

1. Combine the tikka paste, ginger, garlic and chilli with the yoghurt.
2. Place the chicken pieces in a ziplock bag, add the spice/yoghurt mix, seal and give it a good massage, to coat evenly.
3. Preheat oven to 220C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
4. Coat the vegetables with olive oil and a good sprinkling of toasted ground cumin seeds.
5. Spread the vegetables out in one layer on the baking tray, leaving spaces for the chicken pieces.
6. Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade, leaving the excess behind, and add to the tray. Give the whole tray a good grinding of black pepper and salt and a drizzle of olive oil.
7. Roast for 20 minutes, then toss the potatoes and cauliflower to ensure they are cooking evenly and return the tray to the oven for 15 -20 minutes more until the chicken and vegetables are cooked through.
8. Serve with dollops of yoghurt or coriander dressing, chopped coriander and serve right from the tray.

For the Coriander Dressing

9. Blend everything up for about a minute until smooth. Add a little water if you need more volume in the blender to make it run smoothly. Season to taste.
10. Keeps in the fridge for about 3 days.