Topic: Today's dinner

[jb]

I had my tandoor oven out today,I've been meaning to try Chris' new naan bread recipe for ages.I made some naans as well as some chicken tikka and sheek kebabs.




plain naan.....



balti chilli keema naan...



Inside of a keema naan...



peshwari,plain and balti chilli keema



chicken tikka...



The tikka was,as always top-notch,in fact better than most of the bland stuff I seem to get from most places these days.The naans were excellent,I have to say Chris' recipe was spot on.Tastewise the naans were definetely BIR,and they also had the right consistency,you could fold them in two without them breaking.In fact they were pretty much identical to the standard of naans I already had,using Pacman Pete's old recipe.That too came from a T/A so it's not suprising that the recipe's good.I thnk the key is the resting of the dough.At last I've got the knack Of putting the filling in the bread and rolling it without the contents spilling out!!

The restaurant charcoal seemed to keep hot all day,although for some reason I still get some soot around my tandoor when it's hot.I don't know why,could it be the firelighters I'm using...any ideas??

I'm afraid the sheek kebabs were a complete and utter disaster!!! The mix itself was spot on in taste(I used the same mix for the keema naans).However I realised the mix was wet,and you guessed it as soon as I put it in the tandoor the meat began to fall off...here is what I had left!!



As you can see an utter disaster!!!  I know a few people have had this problem so any thoughts on where I went wrong would be most welcome.The keema mix contained onion and I left it overnight in the fridge so I guess the moisture came from this.I did add some gram flour to it but it still went wrong.I still have some naan dough left,I'm going to cook them on my tawa tomorrow and see how they go.

[Stephen Lindsay]

Looks great jb especially the naans bubbling on the side of the tandoor!

[fried]

Try using a skewer with a flat blade. I dont know what they use in Indian restaurants, but in Turkish cuisine this is standard.

[natterjak]

Nice looking food there jb... What tikka recipe do you use?

Was the keema straight out of the fridge onto the skewers or had it come up to room temperature due to filling the naans?  Just wondering if that might affect the consistency and let it depart the skewers before it's cooked enough to stay put. Shot in the dark though as I'm no expert.

[Edwin Catflap]

Hi

Looks great, I have flat skewers and still somtimes struggle.......so the last time i did it i used Dips method of rolling them in foil and putting them in the oven. Very simple and no falling off issues, they stay really moist and you can if you wish take them out of the foil and grill for a slightly crispy outside if you wish.

Here's his link
http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,4452.0.html

[jb]

Nice looking food there jb... What tikka recipe do you use?

Was the keema straight out of the fridge onto the skewers or had it come up to room temperature due to filling the naans?  Just wondering if that might affect the consistency and let it depart the skewers before it's cooked enough to stay put. Shot in the dark though as I'm no expert.

The filling had come up to room temperature,I'm pretty sure the onion was the culprit though.

Tikka was this one,still the best recipe I have,a bit less mustard oil and a touch more paste,not Patak's but Pasco.

http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php/topic,4934.0.html

[Garp]

What a wonderful selection of naan, jb.

Great stuff 

[Micky Tikka]

Good grub jb
Always get the water out the onions first either fry them slowly or Chris suggests mince them then squeeze the water out
I put mine in a teatowel and squeeze

[bramswell]

try using a blow torch to get the charcoal going instead of using fire lighters?
I've seen most get the charcoal going in a tube type thing with a handle then drop it into the tandoor ( just make sure the door/flap is closed

one of these

[bamble1976]

Hi

The naan's look great.  I have to say,I am jealous of the naan's as i am struggling to master the fillings and rolling out without the filling erupting
 

Barry