Topic: Ver Tikki

[livo]

As with many things out of India, Ver is only one spelling of the word used to describe Kashmiri Spice Cakes, or Ver Tikki (aka: Veri Tikki and Var Tikki).  For a while now I've been looking into these and now that I have a good supply of my own chilli powder I'm going to have a go at it.  There's some info out there about these and I've been reviewing and bookmarking what I have found so I think I'm ready to go and I've decided on one or two promising recipes to follow.  Possibly a mix between the 2.

There are Kashmiri local ingredients that I wont be able to source. I'll need to use Eschalot onions instead of Pran / Praan and I won't have any Cockscomb either but it's mainly for colour.  Saffron is way too expensive to use in any quantity so my masala will not have this, but I do have some Safflower which I'll use instead. Poor man's Saffron. I worked out the other day in the shops that Saffron thread is AUS $130,000 / kg.  Nope to that.  ($13.00 for 100 mg).

I found one recipe video that produces a Kashmiri paste using the same ingredients (plus added oil) as well as the dried cakes so I'm thinking this will be an easier job to try it out.  I hope my own Kashmiri masala will be good in making Chicken Tikka and Kashmiri influenced curries. 

Next I'll have to try to make a good Tandoori paste but there are so many variations on this so it may be tricky.

[Robbo141]

I too am averse to shelling out on saffron, but Costco here in the US has very reasonably priced saffron in jars.  I rarely use it, mainly when we do paella, but certainly not ridiculous if the quantity in the recipe isn’t over the top.
May be worth seeking out any offers in local cash and carry type places if you have them.

Robbo

[livo]

Yep. Too much.

I've just this morning had a closer look at the two recipes I thought looked promising for this and they are essentially the same with one main difference.  The usual one (seems to be the most common) is based on crushed Garlic and Pran for the body of the tikki.  The other one is obviously a non-garlic / onion version with much the same spice ingredients.  The base of this one is made from soaked and lightly cooked Urad or Moong dahl paste and to contribute the flavour, a healthy amount of Hing is added.  Aside from this they are very similar.

I believe there is a cultural / religious / dietary variation between foods cooked in some households regarding garlic, but I'm not sure of the reasons.  Anyway, I'm about to embark on the Garlic and Onion version minus the Saffron and Cockscomb.

[livo]

Done and now aging before forming.  I'm not sure whether to do tikki or put it in a jar.  I may do a bit of both and use the dehydrator to dry the tikki as our sun is not very strong at the moment.

[livo]

I just bought some lovely lamb rump steaks so I can't wait to cook my first Rogan Josh with my own Kashmiri Masala. With any luck it will be too spicey for the rest of the food thieves. Err, oops, I meant family. Did I say food thieves?  Nah. Not really. Only kidding. Well, a bit anyway.  Of course I will, as usual, make it with my family in mind.  I may make 2 but mine could be a bit bigger this time.  I can blame it on experimentation with a new ingredient.. You know.  I wasn't sure how hot it would be so I'm just testing.  This wouldn't be a lie.  I'll get away with it.

[Robbo141]

Luscious!  The only spice mixes I have made are the usual suspects of mix powder and garam masala.  I’ve often thought about trying my hand at a paste.  One for the future for sure.

Robbo

[livo]

Well after a week of maturing they certainly smell pretty good.  I ended up making 5 individual Ver Tikki at approximately 3 oz each. They worked out to be 88 grams each which is pretty close to 3 oz. They will lose a bit of the weight in the drying process.  Now all I need to do is find a recipe for how to use them in a Rogan Josh for my first dish.  It shouldn't be too difficult to work out something that will do the job if I can't find and actual recipe using this stuff.  I found a Kashmiri Chicken dish on video the other day so at least that gives me something to go on.

[livo]

I gave this a try with some chicken last week and thoroughly enjoyed a spicey Kashmiri Chicken Curry, but last night I made a Kashmiri Lamb Rogan Josh. The aroma while it was cooking was amazing and the dish was delicious.  So simple to make a wonderful dish with these Ver Tikki.  They will now be a permanent item in my spice cupboard.  The best thing is that they are a perfect way to store my home grown chillis for use throughout the rest of the year.  It's a bit of a process but it's well worth the effort.

The recipe I loosely followed was a few whole Garam Masala spices in a muslin pouch, a couple of black cardamom, heaps of butter ghee a little bit of ground garam masala, salt and some yogurt plus about 30 grams of Ver Tikki soaked in water.  The original recipe used Hing for cultural reasons and kashmiri spices (no garlic or onion).  My Tikki contain onion and garlic so i omitted the hing and added a bit of extra garlic.  I did most of it in my multi-cooker with the pressure on for 20 minutes in the middle.  Amazingly good.

[Robbo141]

I have to try this.  It’s just intriguing and I’m always on the lookout for something new.  Mind you, I’ve made two curries this week with Taz base (both very good) and tonight doing Instant Pot biryani.  Heresy I know, and won’t mention that to my friends in Hyderabad but in a pinch it’s an OK rice dish to enjoy with homemade naan.

Robbo

[livo]

This is the video I ended up following pretty closely.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwa3NEd-_Ss&t=62s   After watching a few and reading up on them I decided that this was the one I would attempt and I'm glad I did.  I was going to do the paste version but I decided to go all out and do real sun-dried Tikki.  They took about a week in the sun to dry, and I turned them over once or twice a day and brought them back inside at night. I just had them on a baking sheet on greaseproof paper.  I had considered using the dehydrator as it's still winter over here but we had a run of warmer days and no rain so I just went for it and it worked out fine.

The variations I made were as follows.  Firstly I made a 1/5 quantity of the video listed ingredients. 
I substituted French Eschalots for Kashmiri Pran, which I ground with the garlic in a blender. Could have used Mortar and Pestle I suppose but why?
I used a few drops of Pillar Box Red food colour in place of Cockscomb.
I substituted Safflower for Saffron because of cost.
I saw on another video that only the Black Cardamom seed is used. Not the husk so this is what I did.  She didn't reply to my question in the comments.

I can post the exact quantities of the spices I used if you'd like.  It will be just as good made from bought Kashmiri Chilli Powder but I was thrilled to be able to use my own.  You could use whole dried chilli and grind them yourself.  I can also post the Recipe I followed for the RJ if you'd like.  Of course you could probably use a jar of commercial Kashmiri Masala Paste just as effectively but where's the fun in that?