Chicken tikka is traditionally made with small pieces of boneless chicken. Sadat added his own twist by using chicken quarters (bone-in and skin-on) and orange juice instead of lemon juice (he’s also used Sprite at times). Although the orange juice may not be too noticeable in the final product, Sadat’s recipe includes only 4 ingredients and is fairly straightforward.
As part of our ongoing series interviewing the competitors, below are Sadat’s answers and his recipe.
What is the favorite grill/smoker you’ve ever had and why? They are all the same, every griller needs to know their grill: which side is hotter, which side is cooler and how to move things around.
At what age did you start grilling/smoking meat? Around 26 years. No great story, but started on an electric grill while living in an apartment.
What do you enjoy the most about grilling/smoking? There is an art to juggling things, grilling exemplifies this and there is fun in that. Least enjoyable part is cleaning the meat.
What’s your signature dish? Pasta with meat
Give us one tip/hack to make improve our grilling/BBQ skills. When grilling chicken quarters, always cook the bony side down first with the grill closed, then flip the pieces over once. This way the chicken cooks inside out and you are less likely to burn the meaty side.
Recipe
Ingredients:
- 4 quarter chickens
- 1/2- 2/3 pack of chicken tikka masala
- half cup of orange juice
- 2 spoons of garlic ginger paste
- 1/3 cup of olive oil.
- Optional ingredients: sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, ginger, garlic, pepper
Directions:
- Make marinade: combine chicken tikka masala, orange juice, garlic ginger paste and olive oil.
Marinade - Cut slits into chicken or stab repeatedly with a fork
- Marinate chicken for a couple of hours.
- Grill until internal temperate reaches 165 degrees.
Chicken cooking on grill - Optional: wrap tomatoes and onions in foil with ginger/garlic/pepper. Put this over the chicken in dish keeping it all tightly covered so the aroma seeps in.
