Topic: Sunday lunch Indian style

[jb]

Invited some friends for lunch on Sunday,asked them if they wanted a roast dinner or a curry feast...you can imagine the answer!!

Anyway on the menu...chicken tikka main,balti chicken pathia,chicken garam massala,tandoori garlic naga,bhuna massala,chicken tikka rezalla,aloo massala,sag aloo,chana massala,aloo chat,pilau rice,garlic chiili keema rice...

pre cooked stuff..


pathia..


garam massala..


bhuna massala..


tikka rezalla..


garlic naga..

[jb]

Few more...

aloo massala..


sag aloo..

aloo chat..



pilau rice and garlic chilli keeme rice...

[jb]

End result....

[jb]

The curries were superb,and my guests were very impressed I think,the nights I've spent in my local takeaway kitchen have been well spent.

Not everything went to plan though,my naan breads were an absolute disaster!! I must have seen my local tandoor chef cook hundreds of breads,he makes it look so easy but in the end I binned mine.I think my naan dough was just too sticky,I must have added to much liquid when I was mixing it.They kept falling off the sides of my oven so in the end I gave up on them.Just wondering what dough recipes other people use and if they produce great naans? I know Haldi says he can make proper fluffy naans I wonder what recipe and cooking technique that involves??

Here's another one that escaped to the bottom of the tandoor!!



Also,a question for anyone that does have a charcoal tandoor oven,I find I get a lot of soot around the inside walls of the oven.Not a problem if I'm just cooking tikka but not good if I'm cooking naan breads.I obviously have to use charcoal so I wonder if the firelighters are the culprit??  Also,I've at last managed to cook sheek kebebs in my tandoor without the darn things falling off into the bottom,no onion or egg in the mix and make sure it's really firm when it's shaped onto the skewer.

[Sverige]

Maybe too much water, but possibly also under kneaded, as I've seen sticky dough like that become quite soft and pliable with further kneading.  Guess you should follow the technique you've observed in the TA though, perhaps they don't knead much?

[haldi]

I know Haldi says he can make proper fluffy naans I wonder what recipe and cooking technique that involves??

here's the recipe:-

Naan bread
From Pete - here is a very good recipe from Paul Cleary (Pacman):-

Naan bread mix at the restaurant

This is the mix I was taught by the tandoori chef it is used in both restaurants
This quantity is approximately 1/3 of the portion done in the restaurant
And is what I make up at home.

Part 1
Mix this in a measuring jug
0.25 pint of semi skimmed milk straight out of the fridge
0.75 pint of cold water
1 large egg including yolk
1 teaspoon black onion seeds
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon level of any baking powder not soda and do not be tempted to add more
2 tablespoons caster sugar
0.25 teaspoon salt

whisk this up for 15 to 20 seconds

Part2
Get approximately 800 g /900g self raising flower and put it in a mixing bowl and add half the mixture. Mix this up quickly. Now add the mixture and kneed quickly until you get a good dough. This process should not take more than 2 minutes.The dough should be sticky but when pulled should leave the bowl without leaving any behind. You will have some of the mixture left at the end so
Don?t pour it all in. Discard any left over mixture.
Now pour veg oil . about 2 teaspoons. on your hands and quickly kneed this over the surface of the dough. This will take about 5 seconds it is merely to oil the exterior.

Part3
Let stand for one hour in the kitchen. The dough will not change size notably

Part 4
Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge overnight . The restaurants all do this.
You can use the dough now but it is not as good as when it returns to room temperature.

Part 5
Take out of the fridge about 4 hours before use. The dough must return to room temperature. It will be marshmellowy and light when you take the clingfilm off


FOR PLAIN NAAN ONLY

The chef will take a piece of dough . around a sixth to an eighth of the completed dough and lightly dust it with self rising flour. Then roll it into a ball
He will now flatten the dough to about 4 inch in diameter.
Now he will dip his hand in oil and cover one side only of the bread with it.
Pushing the oil across the dough and making it about 5 inch in diameter.
The dough is stretched over a naan cushion (oil side touching the cushion)
It's stretched out a bit more, then a few specks of water are dotted onto the naan and it's slapped onto the tandoor wall.
About two minutes later dark spots are appearing on the naan
Using the scraper and hook, the naan is removed.
It's all about temperature of the tandoor and thickness of the naan
Tandoor wall too hot and the naans burn that side
Tandoor wall too cold and the naans won't stick
You just have to keep trying and make enough to redo any that go wrong
I always brush the finished naan with a mixture of veg oil and melted butter
Naan dough too thin and it dries out or burns
It's lot easier using an ordinairy oven
I think Happy4eader Chris's recipe is easier too

Hey JB, have you written out a set of recipes for all that lovely food?

[Unclefrank]

I use Happy's naan recipe and they do cook wonderfully in the Tandoor, mine is run off a gas bottle, i can't get my sheesh kebabs to stay on skewers also tried all different sized skewers, but i have had superb results with Happy's naans.
Second the recipes also JB.

[Garp]

Lovely spread there JB and nice to see you posting some out-takes. Not everyone will show what went wrong.

Have you posted your method/recipe for the rice? Looks great. I've struggled a bit to get that restaurant look with mine (perfectly edible but not that wow factor).

Any advice gratefully accepted.

PS - who got the non-matching plate, and how did the other one get broken?

[redman1212]

Hi JB - the spread looks fantastic. I wish my food looks (and I guess tastes) anything like that. I'm always curious how people serve so many dishes to the table and keeping the food hot. I don't think I could even get that many dishes in my oven. It would be great if you could share any tips/advice

[littlechilie]

Such a wonderful spread you have here, what a feast for the eyes...