Yellow capsicum/bell pepper - 1, small or ½ of large
Green capsicum/bell pepper - 1, small or ½ of large
Onion - 2, large
Instructions
To make hung curd, place a colander over a large bowl. Then spread a cheesecloth or muslin cloth over the colander. Now pour the regular curd over the cheesecloth/muslin.
Gather 4 corners of the cheesecloth together and tighten the curd inside it. Now squeeze the curd to let excess water drip off through the cheesecloth.
Once Most of the water is drained out, tie the cheesecloth bundle around a tap over the kitchen sink and leave it for an hour or so to allow any remaining water to drip off. Your hung curd will be ready after that!
Wash and pat dry the chicken breasts really well. Then cut each chicken breast into 1.5-2 inch cubes.
Cut the bell peppers into 1-inch chunks. Peel and cut out large chunks of onions and then separate the petals. Set aside.
Now it’s time to make the marinating mixture. Take the hung curd in a large mixing bowl, big enough to hold all the chicken, peppers and onions.
Add all the remaining ingredients listed under marinate to the hung curd - ginger & garlic paste, salt, turmeric, coriander, cumin & Kashmiri chilli powder, garam masala and mustard oil.
Using a fork or a wire whisk, thoroughly mix all the ingredients to make a uniform yogurt mixture. The color of the marinate would be bright orange.
Now first drop in the chicken cubes and preferably using your hands, coat each piece evenly with the marinate on all sides.
Once all the chicken pieces are nicely coated, drop in the bell peppers and onions. Lightly toss or stir them in with a spatula so that they are also coated with the yogurt marinate mixture.
Leave the chicken tikka mixture for at least an hour and preferably overnight to allow all the flavors penetrate the chicken pieces.
Before threading the chicken tikkas into skewers, first soak a few bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes so that they don't burn inside the fryer.
Once you are ready to air fry, preheat your air fryer to 180 C / 350 F.
While the air fryer is getting preheated, let’s thread the chicken tikkas! Take 1 skewer at a time and insert 1 onion petal, 1 bell pepper chunk and 1 chicken cube through the skewer.
Then repeat it once or twice in the same order into the same skewer depending on the length of the skewer you are using leaving an inch of gap on both ends.
Continue threading all the chicken, peppers and onions in all the skewers and keep them ready.
Once the air fryer is preheated & ready, place the chicken skewers inside the fryer basket in a single layer. Do not put one skewer on top of another; then they will not cook evenly.
Air fry the chicken tikkas at 180 C / 350 F for 15 minutes, flipping them over once in between.
After 15 minutes, increase the temperature to 200 C / 400 F and air fry them for another 2 minutes to give that charred effect on the edges of the tikkas just like you see in restaurant style chicken tikka.
Your first batch of air fryer chicken tikka is ready. Repeat the same air frying process for remaining tikkas.
Serve your air fryer chicken tikka warm with coriander-mint chutney and onion rings on the side. Enjoy!
Recipe by Flavor Quotient at https://www.flavorquotient.com/2024/04/air-fryer-chicken-tikka-restaurant-style/