Why this recipe works
Tikka masala is really two techniques joined. First, yogurt-marinated chicken is grilled to a smoky char, the Maillard browning that carries the whole dish. Then it is simmered in a reduced tomato gravy rounded off with a little cream or cashew. Keep the char and you can go easy on the cream: the flavour is in the grill, not the dairy.
Ingredients
Method
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1
Marinate the chicken in yogurt, ginger-garlic, Kashmiri chilli and garam masala, then grill or sear until charred at the edges.
The soul of it: the char is the Maillard reaction, the smoky depth that separates tikka masala from an ordinary tomato curry. Do not skip it.
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2
Simmer the tomato puree with onion, ginger-garlic and Kashmiri chilli until thick and reduced.
Why reduce: cooking the tomatoes down concentrates their flavour and natural sweetness, so the base is rich without needing much cream.
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3
Blend the base smooth and stir in the ground soaked cashews (or a little cream).
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4
Add the grilled chicken and crushed kasuri methi, and simmer a few minutes.
An honest word
Restaurant tikka masala can be heavy with cream and butter, which makes it a treat. The good news is the flavour is mostly in the char and the reduced tomato, so a lighter version, grill the chicken, lean on ground cashews and a spoon of yogurt instead of cream, and keep the butter modest, keeps the soul with far less load. The grilled chicken itself is lean, high protein.