Topic: Kushi Chicken/Lamb tikka

[Razor]

This recipe comes from the 'Authentic Balti Curry' cookbook ISBN No 141205592-X

Ingredients

6-8 chicken breast or equivalent quantity of Lamb
4 tsp garlic paste
5.5 tsp ginger paste
5 tbsp mustard oil
6 tsp Kashmir Masala paste
Juice of 1 lemon
6 tsp mint sauce (concentrated)
3 tsp English mustard (not powdered)
a pinch of both red and yellow food colouring, optional
220g plain yoghurt
0.5tsp chilli powder, more if you like it hotter
2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
3 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp curry powder
2.5 tsp garam masala
2 tsp dried methi (fenugreek) leaves, chopped

Method

Place all the ingredients in to a large bowl and mix thoroughly, ensuring no lumps.

Choose your meat but, keep it whole, you will cut them into more familiar size pieces later.

Really mix the meat into the marinade, massaging it for a few minutes with your hands.  It is important that all the surface meat is covered.

Sprinkle a few pinches of chopped coriander on the top, cover with cling film, and marinate for at least 24 hours.

When you are ready to cook the meat, skewer the meat, set your grille to high, and cook the meat, turning every three minutes until cooked through.

Cut you meat to the desired size and it is now ready to use as a starter or in a tikka masala dish.

My observations

I usually cut the meat up before I put it in the marinade, just makes life easier

Modified by George on 5 May 2012 - 205 tsp changed to 2.5 tsp garam masala as requested by Razor two years ago. Sorry it took so long.

[Razor]

Please note, the recipe should read 2.5tsp of garam masala.  205 tsp, would be silly

Any active mods willing to ammend the recipe for me?

Ray

[chriswg]

Wow that's a lot of mustard oil too. I'll be pleased to try this on to see the affect that it has on the final taste. I bought a bottle a while ago and haven't even opened it yet.

[Malc.]

Given the recent conversations on Mustard Oil and my purchase of the ABC book, I was surprised to read that this recipe not only contains Mustard Oil but also contains Mustard as well.

How does this compare to others recipes tried?

[coogan]

Hi Razor,

I like the look of that marinade. Surprised no salt is used in it though! I'll give it a whirl next time I knock one up. I will probably do the pre-marinade thing first with salt and lemon though.

I might also add some sought of mustard and try methi in my own marinade especially as I have just planted some fenugreek today.

Bon tikka

[Malc.]

Coogan, use the mustard sparingly, I made this to spec yesterday and found the Mustard (Colemans English) overpowered the dish.

[Razor]

Hi Malc,

Are you sure that the mustard is the culprit and not the mustard oil?

I'm not keen on the mustard oil, smell or taste wise.

Ray

[Malc.]

Hi Ray,
 
I have been trying to get some background on Mustard Oil from some Bangladeshi people I have met recently. One thing I have learnt is that  there is Mustard Oil and then there is Mustard Oil, if you get my meaning.
 
The Mustard Oil I have was explained to me as being a premium grade Oil  and it's price reflected it. As this is my first bottle of Mustard Oil I  can not compare it to others in taste, smell etc. However, in appearance it is a much darker colour than cheap alternatives. I can  only assume that that the depth of colour suggests a depth of flavour etc.
 
My oil smells of Mustard and nothing else when you open it. Does that compare?
 
Once heated, the oil becomes less fragrant and the taste lessens.
 
I am using Mustard Oil quite alot now, which surprised me. I use it to  make Mick's Tikka and it is one of the best Tikka recipes I have had. The Oil doesn't come bounding through in floods as it did with the Kushi recipe. 
 
This brings me to think that the Kushi recipe is designed for use with EU approved Mustard Oil (i.e. KTC blended with veg Oil) and therefore requires the added Mustard (Colemans) to  acheive the required levels of taste. So using a premium oil would  overload the taste buds. I also feel that Mustard paste does not behave  in the same way as mustard oil and therefore retains it's strength of  flavour once heated. I can't say that this is accurate, but I do know that the ABC is written in mind of readily available components.
 
It could be that I used too much Mustard Paste of course and I wouldn't  want to put members off trying this recipe (especially given the  fantastic results I had recently on the ABC topic), but I doubt I will  revisit this for a while as I am happy with the current oil I have.
 
I hope this helps.

[adriandavidb]

I have a big can of the KTC blended stuff.  I remember being very suprised when I opened it that the smell reminded me of linseed oil!

I've used in in some curries but found I didnn't much like the taste, I've not tried it in a tikka marinade yet though!

[natterjak]

I made this today (well, in fact made it 2 days ago then cooked the chicken today). Very interesting flavour, quite different to blade's tikka which is my normal tikka du jour.

In fact I liked it. Not the same initial flavour hit as blade's but I think a lot of that is down to the surfeit of  lemon juice in the blade recipe. I found this kushi tikka more moreish and thought it was a closer facsimile to a typical BIR tikka.

Next time I will omit the chilli powder as I found the tikka quite hot and I think the Kashmiri paste will supply enough heat without the need for chilli powder in addition.  My only other comment would be the quantity if marinade seemed quite generous for 6 to 8 chicken breasts. Seemed like I could have marinaded double that.