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Afghani Chicken Tikka – Air Fryer Chicken Tikka Afghani

5 from 1 vote
Everyone’s thumbs up preferred for a family-friendly meal, chicken tikka gets a major enhancement from the standard variety in this Afghani Chicken Tikka – Air Fryer Chicken Tikka Afghani recipe.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 55 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings: 8
Course: Appertizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 3 pounds chicken thighs {boneless}
  • 2.5 tbsp cashew nuts {unsalted and skinless}
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 15 serrano peppers {small hari mirch}
  • 1 cup plain greek yogurt
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tbsp  ginger garlic paste  (either freshly minced in equal quantities or store bought)
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 2 tsp garam masala
  • 1.5 tbsp corn flour
  • 1.5 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 and 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi/ kasuri methi)
  • 3 tbsp oil {divided}
  • 2 tbsp butter {melted and unsalted}
For garnish
  • 2 tbsp heavy whipping cream

Method
 

Prep
  1. Soak 2.5 tbsp raw skinless cashew nuts in 2 tbsp water for 20 minutes. Next, when 20 minutes are up, blend the water, cashew nuts and serrano peppers in a coffee grinder or a blender.
  2. Dice the chicken into 2 to 3 inch pieces.
  3. Whisk the Greek yogurt, heavy whipping cream, ginger garlic paste, serrano pepper and cashew nut blended paste, ground black pepper, garam masala, corn flour, lemon juice, salt, dried fenugreek leaves, and 2 tbsp oil. Additionally, mix it well with a spoon. Consequently, after mixing well add in the chicken. Again give it a good mix and make sure the chicken is coated well in the marinade. Let it stay in the marinade for a minimum of 30 minutes. Ideally 6 hours is perfect. But if you are in a time crunch 30 minutes is good.
Cook
  1. When you are ready to cook, grease your Air Fryer basket with oil. I grease mine by rubbing, brushing, or spraying, a little bit of oil on the bottom grate. Then, follow your air fryer directions for preheating to 350°F for 5 minutes. When it’s preheated, working in batches, place the chicken in a single layer. Air fry for 15 minutes, at 360°F.Turn the chicken using tongs at the mid-way mark (8 minute), to help the chicken brown more evenly. At this point drizzle some butter.
  2. When done carefully remove the tikkas and serve hot. Garnish heavy whipping cream all over the tikkas either in a line or with little dots.

Notes

In terms of spice levels, I would place this dish at 3.5 out of 5. You can reduce or increase the serrano peppers as per your taste and heat tolerance.