Makes 4 generous portions
Preparation time 25 minutes, plus marinating time
Cooking time 1 hour

• 10-15 chicken thighs (depending on their size)

Marinade

• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
• 2ml salt
• 5ml chilli powder
• 10ml lemon juice
• 125ml plain yoghurt
• 5ml garam masala
• 3ml turmeric
• 5ml each fine coriander and cumin
• 30ml oil

Sauce

• 10ml ghee (or butter if you don’t have ghee)
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely grated
• 3 cardamom pods, crushed
• 2 cloves
• 5ml fine coriander
• 15ml garam masala
• 5ml curry powder
• 300ml tomato puree
• 15ml lemon juice
• 50g unsalted butter
• 125ml double cream
• bunch of fresh coriander, chopped
• curry leaves and green chillies to taste (optional)

1 Place the chicken thighs in a mixing bowl and mix with the marinade ingredients. Cover the bowl and set aside in the fridge to marinate, preferably overnight.
2 Make The Sauce Heat the ghee in a heavy-based frying pan then fry the garlic and ginger until the flavours develop. Add the spices and fry again – be careful the mixture doesn’t burn! Stir the tomato puree and lemon juice into the mixture and allow it to simmer for about an hour. Thin the sauce with some chicken stock if it looks like it could burn. For optimal flavour, follow the recipe to this point the day before you’d like to serve it.
3 On The Day Cut the chicken into pieces, skewer them on kebab sticks and braai over mild coals until just cooked and juicy. The chicken will develop a delicious smoky flavour on the fire, but can also be fried on a griddle pan.
TIP The chicken will be placed in the sauce after it’s been on the coals, so don’t overcook it. Heat the sauce and stir in the butter and cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper, sprinkle with fresh coriander and add the cooked chicken pieces. Allow it to simmer for about 10 minutes and serve with basmati rice and sambals.

Text and image: Home magazine