Topic: Restaurant-proportions base

[Peripatetic Phil]

Probably not the largest base recorded on video, but certainly one of the most authentic I have seen :   Chef Sunil Singh's Basic Indian yellow gravy | dhaba, hotel, restaurant style

** Phil.

[livo]

Phil, I missed this when you posted it 2 years ago.  I have an interest in "Hotel Style" gravy.  I did watch some of his videos back then and just stumbled upon this more recent video today.  It's the same chef making Basic Tandoori Red Masala followed by his Chicken Tikka. He only posted it Dec 27 2021 and it look really good.  There is a bit of prep though in making the Bhuna Besan and Kashmiri Chilli Paste.  I watched them as well and they aren't really difficult.  May be able to short cut these steps though, or at least do smaller quantity.  Who doesn't like to try a new recipe for Chicken Tikka?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqUFc1cbTYI

I also really like the look of his Easy Soft & Juicy Chicken Seekh Kababs and Butter Garlic Prawn.

[Robbo141]

Man, that chicken tikka looks great. Seriously considering building a tandoor now.

Robbo

[livo]

It does look good doesn't it?  I'm going to be giving it a try.  I'm not sure if you can get these in your location Robbo but I have one of these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nAW2eLKmJU

Pakistani steel home tandoor.  Double skin with 2 ring gas burners and enamelled top and lid. Pretty primitive but it does the job.  I bought mine second hand and I've found that you can just use the gas or use it to get some lump charcoal going then turn the gas off for that charcoal cooked flavour.  I remember someone here on the forum has one in UK.

You don't need a tandoor to do tikka though, as you probably know. On skewers supported from side to side of a baking dish under the grill (broiler over there I think) works just fine and Syed showed us that you can just fry it for pretty good results.

[livo]

Keeping in mind that this chef is demonstrating "Hotel Style" in commercial quantities, this recipe will need some serious scaling back to a home kitchen.  The end result using 1kg of chicken is a guide, however it is pretty obvious that the chicken is pre-marinated and the sub-titles say it is.  In what?  He doesn't say.  I've asked but I'd be happy to go with Chewytikka's stage 1 marinade if Chef is not forthcoming with an answer.

Working backwards:

He says 1 kg of pre-marinated chicken thigh (thai) fillet, and he uses 4 -5 TBSP or Red Masala.  The spoon he uses (well heaped) is a serving spoon or chefs spoon and he adds 4.  There is easily 1 - 1.5 cups of Red Masala, so lets assume it is 300 ml (or grams).  His total Red Masala uses 2.5 kg of hung yogurt and 300 ml of Mustard Oil so lets call it 3.0 kg.  We need to scale everything back to around 10% for a single batch.

This is where I'd be starting out for the first go (roughly).

1 tsp Kashmiri Red Chill Powder
30 ml Mustard Oil
1.5 - 2 tsp Bhuna Besan (tricky so it'll probably require making a larger amount carefully, but only using a little bit. He shows in another video how he makes it).
2 tsp Garlic & Ginger Paste
1- 1.5 cups of Hung Yogurt (dry Greek).
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Black Salt
2 tsp Cumin Powder
2 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp powdered Kasuri Methi (or a little bit more for me).
1/2 tsp Green Chilli Paste
2 tsp Lemon Juice
2 tsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Paste.  (He shows in a separate video how he makes this but it's essentially rehydrated dried chilli without the seeds, blended to paste).

Anyway this would be where I start, and possibly any stage 1 Tikka marinade would suffice for now.  There is one place where I'll probably shortcut (Bhuna Besan) but I'm keen to give this a try.  I think the interesting thing is the 2 stage cooking with butter basting at the rest.

I can't wait to try it over charcoal in the tandoor.

[livo]

Some photos of the Tikka. I made the Bhuna Besan and Kashmiri Chilli paste.  The Kashmiri chilli in India must be a lot more red than over here.  Mine were a bit old and I've used all of my own home grown ones.  I cheated and used a bit of Tandoor food colour.  I followed CT's stage 1 marination and added a touch of mint to the recipe (it was missing and I like it).  Delicious juicy tandoor Tikka but I will say that it is "very Indian" spicy and flavour.

My old Pakistani steel tandoor is in need of a new base.  It is obviously very low grade carbon steel and with the last few years of high rain and humidity it has rusted out.

[Robbo141]

Looks great Livo, well played.  I’m planning to make a tandoor out of two clay plant pots. I saw a how-to somewhere online and it looks fairly straightforward. Always a mistake, reading these posts over a morning cuppa.  Now hungry.

Robbo

[livo]

I'd looked into building a tandoor but then I found the steel one.  Do some research because not all ceramic pots are suitable.  There are some good designs and there are some terrible ones.  There is a pottery / ceramics place over here in southern Sydney where you can buy hand thrown ceramic tandoor inserts.  You then build the outer casing to suite your needs.

http://somethingatmarys.com/indian-tandoor-oven-sale/

[livo]

This batch of Tikka was cooked in the multi-function oven.  Each was baked first and then switched over to "Super Grill" mode to char it up a little.  Both delicious and again using Sunil Singh stage 2 marinade after Chewy Tikka stage 1 marinade.

Very tasty again but now I have to try this one!!!        Big emphasis on White Pepper which I've never seen in any other recipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es_fJxskQyw&list=WL&index=2&t=3s