Topic: CA's Chicken Tikka Masala

[bmouthboyo]

Thanks for the feedback guys,

It's OK I didn't expect a lot of comments about the videos, to be honest just a good excuse to use the HD camera and pop some bits on you tube. My technique must be perfect!... lol

I am just great full I stumbled upon this forum, I always loved the KD recipe's but it's nice feeling to progress and I feel the methods of cooking on here are far more logical than the generally boiling the spices method of KD. Having said that I still recommend The Curry Secret to people that may find a forum a bit daunting when starting out.

One day I would like to make the videos more of a tutorial and add the ingredients and written instructions in the video but never seem to have time. Plus feel a gimp talking like a presenter haha

Anyway really appreciate comments, cheers guys

[Ramirez]

One day I would like to make the videos more of a tutorial and add the ingredients and written instructions in the video but never seem to have time. Plus feel a gimp talking like a presenter haha

Definitely do - I think videos are an incredibly valuable thing on this forum. To be able to see how people cook and the technique they use is something that's very useful to everyone here.

[fried]

I'd just like to say what an excellent recipe this is, I made it pretty much exactly to spec. I used CTs base, CAs mix with a little Zaal Garam masala. I made it Madras strength as directed in the Phal link.

I don't often eat CTM but was in the Indian area of Paris and I managed to convince the missus that we needed 1kg of coconut milk powder (smallest size available), for me this made a difference from other recipes I've tried.

It did that magical thing, sometimes when you smell or taste something you can remember the place it was linked too and all the connected sensations from that time. I was back in Preston in the late eighties when I used to eat this dish a lot more regularly, pretty much an exact BIR copy.

Thanks for that moment.

[JennyLou90]

Does anyone know if I simply double ingredients when cooking for four?
Thanks!

[redman1212]

The considered wisdom is that you should cook individual portions or at the most double portions, beyond that it gets difficult to get sufficient energy into the cooking dish to get the appropriate heat/caramelization/reduction etc. There are some recipes for bulk curries but they are different beasts entirely (search for bulk curries). I cooked a meal for 11 not long ago making a mixture of single and double portions and if you set up a factory line of ingredients it doesn't take all that much time at all - the cooked dished can go into a pot or oven to be warmed later.

I remember reading posts about scaling salt/spices if you are determined to make slightly bigger portions but I cannot find the posts

[fried]

My preference would be to do 2 double portions, I also favour just doubling up the meat, maybe adding a little extra liquid, but then again my missus doesn't like much sauce.

[foureyes1941]

I haven't a clue where this was copied from but I feel that it was from this site. Mmmm, there's a problem. In the book I have made it more clear than on the website but the recipes DO NOT scale up well beyond being doubled. That is because they are not scaled down versions of restaurant procedures but rather a method I devised to make domestic sized portions.
If you are making curries AND vegetable dishes then you WILL need the equivalent of 10 times the amount of basic curry sauce (BCS) to make a meal for 20.
Scaling up the curry recipes that much will NOT work either. What will happen is that you will get a kind of curried stew rather than the stir-fried effect of restaurant style curries. Also the spicing will be all wrong. You would certainly need to reduce the stronger spices, especially chilli powder, a fair amount. Getting the curries too wet will be a big problem and water should be added in very small amounts.
So, what to do?
You could hunt out some more traditional recipes where the curries are cooked for a long period of time and in larger quantities but that will not produce restaurant style curries which is what I expect you are after. Even a restaurant would probably make 10 x double portions of curry if you turned up and ordered the same curry for 20 (not the BCS, of course, that would have already been made in bulk earlier on in the day).
If you are committed to making restaurant-style curries then I can only suggest what I would do in the circumstances although, as you rightly point out, I avoid doing it like the plague and have never stretched to 20 (12 people is about my limit)!

[littlechilie]

Hello there, interesting read, tikka masala same as restaurant can be made for 100 if you please. Same as korma..
(Not using original posters CA's method)

Sorry hey forgot to add, plenty of establishments are using batch tikka sauce and korma, only have to heat the chicken or lamb then serve. A portion can be knocked out in less than three minutes, this time taken is purely to warm the chicken to the centre.

[JennyLou90]

Thanks everyone,
I ended up making two 'portions' and to turned out i didn't need to do much more anyway as bundled the first and had enough (with extra chicken) in the second!!
Jenny

[G-C-Costanza]

Made this tonight for the first time.   I used CA's pressure cooker base recipe for the base along with his spice blend.   I couldn't find coconut milk powder locally so I went without.   

All I can say is wow!   This is the recipe I've been looking searching many years for.   Where I live in Oregon, USA there is a severe lack of Indian restaurants.  The closest IR is 45 minutes drive away from my city.   This is spot on to what we've had at the 4 different Indian restaurants we've been to.   

There are a few differences to how I made it.   In the states it doesn't seem like they use food dye to get that red color.   Mine ended up more like a tan/brick color.  I also may have done it different with regards to pre-cooking the chicken.  I marinated overnight with tandoori spice and yogurt.    I also sliced up some onion with red and green bell pepper which I sauteed at the beginning.  I made one mistake.  After I sauteed the onion/pepper I didn't let the pan cool a little before adding the ginger/garlic and adding the spice.  I burned them a little which made it slightly bitter.   

I've ordered some coconut milk powder on Amazon so I'm looking forward to another go next weekend.   

Thanks to everyone here that shares their knowledge. 

My wife loved dinner by the way,. Tikka Masala is her favorite dish.