Aug 6, 2021
Chicken Tikka Baguettes with Homemade Green Chutney | Quick, Easy and Healthy | How to make Chicken Tikka?
Chicken Tikka brings back loads of memories! Restaurants these days are trying to modernize everything, mixing the new food with traditional one. While sometimes this may be outrageous (ie: Chicken Tikka Tagliatelle anyone?!) others it can be a pleasant way of bringing tradition to the table in a fresher, revised, way. Burgers and sandwiches are common on most people’s plates these days, as they are convenient to prepare, please multiple people and generations, are affordable and can be accommodated in most diets (not only weight-loss related diets). Why not introduce something new to our popular meals? Keeping the flavor but adding something that can attract also non-Indian (or Italian) food eaters? Chicken Tikka is a fantastic example of food suitable for everyone! This delicacy reminds me of a restaurant in Jodhpur, where Jay, my mother, and I ate it on the rooftop, accompanied by extra thin garlic naan, chutneys and a cooling glass of lassi (sweet for me, please!)… truly one of the many, many lifetime memories I have gathered from my numerous travels across the world with Jay. Here’s a modern take on this traditional dish… something quick, easy, tasty and fresh, that can be served also to large groups of people. ~~ If you love Chicken Tikka, you will fall in love with this Chicken Tikka Masala Recipe… easy, healthy and authentic, what more?
Questions time!
How to make chicken tikka baguettes?
This chicken sandwich recipe is very easy to prepare and it can be divided in four steps: prepare the chicken and bake it with the baguettes, blend the homemade green chutney, dress the crunchy salad and finally, put all the ingredients together. To start: How to make chicken tikka? How to make chicken tikka marinade? Chop the chicken breasts in wide but thin slices. Prepare the chicken tikka marinade with lemon juice, ginger garlic paste, tomato puree, Kashmiri chili powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, chaat masala, coriander powder, full-fat yogurt and salt, mix well and use it to coat the chicken. Allow the chicken to rest for as long as you can before cooking it in the oven; should you prefer, this can also be cooked on a grilling pan (use cooking spray if you wish to keep the calorie count as low as possible) or on the barbeque directly! To prepare the homemade green chutney blitz together all of the ingredients but just one teaspoon of yogurt; this will work as the ‘wet ingredient’ to blend all the rest, but you will need to keep the rest of the yogurt aside to mix in with a s poon later, as this will allow you to achieve a nice creamy consistency for the green chutney. For the crunchy salad, julienne some juicy red tomatoes and onions and dress it with a spoon of the green chutney. When it comes to the baguettes, to obtain the best result opt for for the ‘bake at home’ baguettes, which can be often found in the bread section of the supermarket; these are partially baked and normally require only 10 minutes in the oven to be ready. Should you choose these, add them to the oven when the chicken is nearly done, following the instructions on the pack; for extra crunchiness, sprinkle a bit of water over the baguettes before putting them in the oven. Final steps: fill your baguettes with the crunchy salad, chicken tikka strips and a bit of green chutney and serve with a side of choice!
Step 1: Prepare the Chicken Tikka
Step 2: Prepare the Homemade Green Chutney
Step 3: Prepare the Crunchy Salad
Step 4: Chicken Tikka Baguette
How to marinate chicken tikka?
Following the recipe above, the best way to marinate chicken is in an air-tight container and possibly, overnight in the fridge. The longer you have to leave the chicken to marinate, the better, however this marinade is very flavorful and also just 15 minutes will make the chicken tikka very tasty.
What is chicken tikka? What does tikka mean?
The word tikka means ‘pieces’ or ‘bits’ in Persian, with words very similar to it meaning the same in Azerbaijan and Turkey. Chicken Tikka originated in the Indian Subcontinent and it is made of chicken cubes that have been marinated in dahi (yogurt) and spices and then cooked on a skewer. ~~ Another glorious recipe that uses chicken tikka is this glorious Butter Chicken Recipe… give it a go!
This dish is versatile and you can use also just part of it. If you are trying to avoid (or reduce, remember: moderation!) bread, why don’t you wrap the chicken in a large leaf of iceberg lettuce? Do you think the green chutney is too spicy? Put a spoon of yogurt in a small bowl and add green chutney to it until you reach the perfect balance for you! Can’t be bothered with the oven? You can cook these chicken breasts on a pan! No matter where you cook chicken, the key is to always serve it cooked thoroughly! Always! Hope you enjoy my modern take on tandoori chicken tikka as much as we do! ~~ If you love easy chicken recipes, you must try these:
- Chili Garlic Chicken Curry
- The Best Chicken Burgers
- Kolhapuri Chicken Curry
- Sri Lankan Black Pepper Chicken Curry
Chicken Tikka Baguettes with Green Chutney Dressed Crunchy Salad
Modern Indian on a platter!
- 2 x 160g (11 oz) Skin-less (Boneless, Chicken Breasts)
- 2 x 100g (3.5 oz) Baguettes ((or two regular baguettes))
- For the marinade
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 Tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 15 g (0.5 oz) Tomato Puree
- 1/2 Tsp Kashmiri Chili Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 Tsp Cumin Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 Tsp Chaat Masala
- 1 Tsp Coriander Powder
- 100 g (3.5 oz) Full Fat Natural Set White Yogurt
- For the Green Chutney
- 30 g (1 oz) Fresh Coriander
- 1 Garlic Clove
- 1/4 Tsp Chaat Masala
- 1/4 Tsp Lemon Juice
- 1 Fresh Green Chili
- Salt to taste
- 50 g (1.7 oz) of Full Fat Natural Set White Yogurt
- For the Salad
- 50 g (1.7 oz) Fresh Red Onion
- 50 g (1.7 oz) Fresh Tomato
- To Garnish
- Cut the chicken breasts into thin pieces and put them in a large mixing bowl.
- In a small bowl, add all of the marinade ingredients and mix them well, until the color becomes uniform, then add the mix to the chicken.
- Ensure each piece of chicken is thoroughly covered with the marinade, then cover the bowl and set aside to flavor and rest for at least half an hour.
- Meanwhile prepare the dressing following my green chutney recipe: in an upside-down blender, blend the fresh coriander, garlic, chaat masala, lemon juice, green chili, salt, and one teaspoon of the yogurt. Do not put all of the yogurt in the blender, as this will make the chutney very liquid, while we are looking to achieve a creamy, sauce-like, consistency.
- Once this is blended and smooth, put in a small bowl and add the rest of the yogurt a bit at a time, mixing with a spoon. Once done, taste for salt and spiciness and set aside.
- Prepare the salad by thinly slicing the tomatoes and the onions, then dress them by adding a tablespoon of the green chutney and mix well.
- Cook the marinated chicken breasts in a fan oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius (350 Degrees Fahrenheit); these should be cooked in about 20 minutes — but double-check, as the chicken needs to be cooked thoroughly before serving, and each oven performs differently.
- To serve, cut the baguette lengthwise without completely separating (easier to eat!) and fill with half the chicken, half of the dressed salad and some extra chutney on the side.
This is a fresh, time-saving meal, that can be accompanied by a light salad (if you’re keeping it light) or by french fries (if you’re lucky enough to have a fast metabolism) or anything else you may fancy as a side!
I like to marinate the chicken for at least half an hour, but if I know that I’ll be out most of the day, I may just put the chicken to marinate in the morning or even the evening before.
When I buy larger packs of chicken, I sometimes marinate it in batches then freeze a couple of portions for future use; this way, if I need a quick but tasty meal for the evening, I just get a portion out in the morning and leave it to defrost naturally — then follow the chicken tikka recipe from there.
Remember you can only freeze fresh chicken that has not been frozen before or cooked chicken that has not been frozen before after being cooked.
As I mentioned in other recipes, I like to use Kashmiri Chilli Powder because it gives a very nice color to the food and doesn’t have an overpowering taste; should you not have it, it can be substituted with red chili powder, but be mindful that this will not offer as strong color, but will be spicier in flavor, so adjust the quantity accordingly.
I like to use ‘’Bake at Home’’ baguettes; the ones I buy are in packs of 2 baguettes and can be cooked in the oven in 8–10 minutes.
When using these, I keep a ‘side space’ in the oven and pop them in 8–10 minutes before the chicken is ready; to get them extra crispy I sprinkle a bit of water on them when they are raw… this is a little trick my Dad taught me to achieve some extra crunch!
If you do not have ginger garlic paste, you can substitute this with fresh ginger and garlic; in this case, if you want to achieve a smooth paste, you’ll need to blend the marinade like the chutney, keeping most of the yogurt aside and add it later, so not to have a liquid consistency, but a creamy one.
Feel free to use lime juice instead of lemon; be mindful that lime can be stronger, so adjust this accordingly as well!
I like to use full-fat natural set yogurt as I find it much more satisfying and for a marinade, the amount of extra calories it brings is almost ‘irrelevant’; if you prefer to use fat-free, go for it, but bear in mind this tends to be more liquid and easier to split when cooking.
For a bit of a peppery taste, I sometimes serve this chicken sandwich with inside some rocket, but this is not the only salad that can go in them… use the leaves you like and have, and if you don’t like them nor have them, just skip them! A good alternative can be crunchy spring onion or thinly sliced fresh white cabbage.
Using the same instructions, but by changing just one ingredient here and there, multiple meals can be created, such as chicken tikka kebab and many other healthy sandwich ideas! Use this chicken sandwich recipe but instead of the baguette use a wholemeal wrap or use more leaves and skip the bread all together for a nice full salad meal.
If you’re counting calories, please recalculate calories if any modifications are applied to the recipe.
Main Course, Snack
Indian
LowCalorieDiet
chicken sandwich, chicken tikka, green chutney
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