This recipe for Chicken Tikka nachos was more of an experiment gone right rather than something that I started with full intention. These nachos are a spicy fusion snack made with all the Pakistani/Indian spices, a yogurt sauce, a mint sauce, some chopped up veggies, served with Mexican tortilla chips.
It’s one of those fusion recipes, that just sticks with you once you make it. Just like Pakistani style batata harra, you guys are going to love this!
I am talking a blast of flavor happening right in your mouth. Without further ado, here’s the recipe
Putting together Loaded Chicken Tikka Nachos
When we talk about toppings, you know we are basically talking about dumping stuff on top of tortilla chips right?. Here’s a picture showing all the things you are going to be throwing in the mix. And since this is soooooo straight forward, I’ll just quickly use pictures to walk you through the process.
There’s some cilantro in the picture, which I just use for garnish. The tortilla chips I used were low sodium low cal baked ones. And honestly they were almost insignificant because all that flavor coming from the toppings. So, you can totally opt for the tasteless “healthier tortilla chips” for this recipe. (Ya i find them tasteless ok? sue me :P)
Chicken tikka mix
For the tikka mix, I used boneless chicken and cut it up into small chunks. Then I prepared my tikka marinade and reserved 1 tsp of mixture to add into the gravy later. I marinated the chicken for about 15 mins. Cooked the chicken on a pan along with some tomato paste, the reserved marinade mix and some cream. Viola! the chicken tikka mix was ready. The whole thing took me hardly 20 mins. And thiss was, The longest part of the whole recipe.
Veggie Mix
While the chicken waited, I prepared the veggie mix. Its a simple onion, tomato and bell peper finely chopped and seasoned with lemon, salt and pepper. (think Tikka pizza toppings). Done? ok set aside.
Mint sauce
For the mint sauce, I used mint leaves, some green chilies, lemon, garlic, salt, some avocado and water. Chucked everything in a blender and made a smooth rich creamy sauce.
This sauce is a creamier version of the Mint Chutney that is usually served with Chicken tikka. The only new addition is the avocado.
Disclaimer: This sauce is very spicy ( I mean, for brown folks too ok?) so go light on this sauce if you can’t handle spicy food very well.
Why the avocado?
– It gives the sauce some body and creamy consistency, so prevents it from become watery.
– It adds a healthy kick my friends!
Yogurt sauce
Moving on to yogurt sauce. Very basic. Very mild. Also very yum. This sauce just had yogurt, cream and a little seasoning. This sauce is the mild cool topping so it would work with everyone’s palate (by everyone I mean spicy and non spicy peeepss)
And that’s that! Then I started dumping all of this on top of a plate of plain tortilla chips…and MY friend….the rest……is history 😀 I did, veggies, chicken, sauces, and veggies again and cilantro. That’s the sequence I went with
Alternates, fixes and Remixes
Substitutes
Avocado – If you don’t have avocado on hand, just use 1 tbsp of cream instead and add that to the mint sauce.
Less spicy – There is no denying these nachos are packed with heat! if you can’t handle spicy food, make the following changes to reduce the spice level of this dish:
– Use paprika instead of red chili powder and 1 tsp instead of 2
– Use 1 green chili instead of 3
– Use less green sauce on the overall dish.
Box masala – If you don’t feel like making your own spice mix, then go ahead and use any Chicken tikka masala mix from Shan, National etc.
Spicy Chicken Tikka Nachos
Chicken Tikka Nachos
A Pakistani/Indian twist on the regular mexican nachos
Ingredients
- A bag of tortilla chips.
- Chopped cilantro for garnish
Yogurt Sauce
- 4 tbsp of Greek yogurt
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 1/4 tsp of black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp of cream
Mint sauce
- A handful of mint leaves
- 3 green chilies with stems removed
- 1 tbsp lemon juice or juice of half a lemon
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3 slices of avocado or 1/4th of an avocado
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup of water
Chicken tikka mixture
- 2 boneless chicken breast pieces cut up into small pieces
- 1/2 tsp of turmeric
- 2 tsp of red chili powder
- 2 tsp of cumin powder
- 1 tsp of coriander powder
- 1/2 tsp of garam masala or all spice powder
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice
- 1 tbsp garlic ginger paste
- 1 tbsp of vinegar
- 1/4 tsp of red color powder
- 4 tbsp of tomato paste or ketchup
- 1/4 cup of water
- 1 tbsp of cream
- 4 tbsp of cooking oil
Veggie mix
- 1 medium tomato chopped up finely.
- 1 big onion chopped up finely
- 1/2 a bell pepper chopped up finely
- 1/2 a lemon
- 1/2 tsp of black pepper powder
Instructions
Preparing
- Prepare the chicken marinade by mixing all the dry spices, lemon, vinegar and ginger garlic paste. Once the mixture is ready, scoop out 1 heaped teaspoon of the mixture for later use. Marinate the chicken in the remaining spice mix and set aside for 10 to 15 mins
- In the meantime, put all the ingredients for the mint sauce in a blender and blend until smooth.
- Mix all the ingredients for the yogurt sauce and set aside.
- Mix all the raw veggies, sprinkle some lemon juice and black pepper on it and set aside.
- In a frying pan, add oil and marinated chicken. Stir fry for 3 mins at high flame till the chicken looks cooked. Add tomato paste, water, the spice mix that we had saved for use later. Cook for another 2 mins.
- Add cream to the chicken mix and cook for another min. Turn off flame and cover with a lid until ready to use.
Assembly
- Layer all the tortilla chips/nachos on the serving dish.
- Add half of the veggie mix all over the nachos.
- Add the chicken tikka mix on top of the veggies.
- Layer out the mint and yogurt sauces.
- Top it off with the remaining veggies and chopped cilantro.
Notes
Go easy on the red and green chilies if you can't handle spicy food.
You can also use packet masala for chicken tikka and exclude all the dry spices from the chicken marination. Use about 6 tbsp of packet masala.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 639Total Fat: 41gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 32gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 491mgCarbohydrates: 54gFiber: 14gSugar: 12gProtein: 21g
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