That's me, Chicken Tikka Everything. Bon god! It's all my fault.
For me it all started as an infection prevention thing.
Back in the early eighties when I use to frequent the dodgy curry houses of east London you were never sure of the hygiene standards within the establishments. So after a good few cases of dodgy guts following a curry out - obviously nothing to do with the gallon or three of lager consumed - I decided to only have chicken fresh from the Tandoor. The charred skewer hole reassured me that the chicken was cooked completely through and the intense heat from the tandoor would have annihilated any bugs - rather than risking eating scary curries utilizing warmed up half cooked chicken that had been laying around in humid conditions for god knows how long.
I was cured. So I used to enjoy the likes of Chicken/ lambTikka, Chicken shaslik, Tandoori King Prawn, Tandoori Lobster or even Tandoori mixed grill - probably the start of mixed meat curries chewy! - served sizzling straight on to a freshly cooked paratha bread with the provided salad - no rice to risky. As these dishes were all dry I used to ask the chef for side portion of masala sauce madras hot or various other sauces like dhansak, pathia, or even korma with added fresh green chillies to drizzle over them.
Hence for me personally to get the true taste of a BIR I would need to make dishes using main ingredients cooked in a tandoor - side dishes aside. That is why I bought a nipoori and why I can tikka/tandoori Chicken, Turkey, Game, Meats, Fish, shellfish, vegetables , fruit or anything else that I can find, combine it with a sauce and enjoy it to my stomachs content.
Tikka ing the hiss aside. I actually love the contrasting taste of the tikka/tandoori with the sauce rather than the whole dish all tasting the same. If we all truly want to create the taste of a BIR's we must keep up with the times and evolve our recipes to match theirs - if that means mixing, matching and using a tandoor so be it.
Bon Tikka