Topic: Chicken Tikka Everything

[976bar]

However, I still think you should'nt mess with the madras and vindaloo etc. Those should not be molested with tikka chicken - its just not right.

Cheers

Hi Solarsplace,

I understand you're thinking but have to ask have you ever tried Chicken Tikka Madras? I love both the plain and the Tikka versions and find they just give a bit of variety when making Indian food all the time

And a lot more restaurants rightly or wrongly are making these dishes nowadays, I guess given the competition, they need to do something else, but it's still a nice alternative......

 Nothing wrong with it at all to be fair, as long as it is still possible to get the standard version of a dish if that is what you want.

Cheers

I couldn't agree more, it's still nice to get those "Authentic" dishes if that's the correct word if you want them

[coogan]

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

[Razor]

Around Manchester, a tikka meat only adds between 20p and 50p more to the end dish, so no big deal really.

There are some places that can pull it off and some that can't!  My local TA are masters of 'tikka' curries, in the fact that the cooked marinade is just that, it's locked onto the meat and won't 'bleed' into the curry once added.  Therefor a chicken tikka madras is just that, peices of chicken tikka in a madras sauce and not chicken in a tikka madras flavoured sauce, if that makes sense.

I always order my chicken or lamb curries, with tikka meat rather than plain meat because of the contrasting flavours.  It makes the curry much more interesting IMO

Ray

[chriswg]

If I order a steak, even in a rich sauce, I want it char-grilled, in fact during the summer just about every piece of meat I eat is BBQ'd or flame grilled. It just tastes better that way. If a waiter in an English restaurant asked you if you would like your chicken cooked on the char-grill or cubed and boiled I know what 99% of people would go for. It just tastes better flame grilled. Just ask Burger King

I appreciate people will point to the spicy over powering sauces that negate the taste of the tikka but that just isn't true. Plus, the excess tikka marinade ends up mixing with the curry sauce to give it a lift. I find a Madras or Vindaloo too bland now, hot and spicy yes, but still bland. I can only be satisfied by more complex dishes like Chicken Tikka Rezzala or Roshney Chicken (which comes with Tikka as standard).

People always ask what's the point of ordering a Vindaloo as it kills your taste buds, but to me it doesn't. I can still appreciate the taste of a keema rice and onion bhaji. The people who usually ask think they are being brave by ordering a Korma though. To them it probably would destroy all their senses for a week. Once you have built up some immunity to the spicyness it becomes a beautiful addiction.

[mickdabass]

Upgrading a curry to a tikka curry isnt new to me. Ive been eating Chicken Tikka Baltis since the 80s - a match made in heaven
Ive got the chicken Tikka nailed now .....just wish I could find a decent Balti recipe

[Stephen Lindsay]

Upgrading a curry to a tikka curry isnt new to me. Ive been eating Chicken Tikka Baltis since the 80s - a match made in heaven
Ive got the chicken Tikka nailed now .....just wish I could find a decent Balti recipe

Is this something you use in a CTM mick as it could be included in the CTM reviews?

[mickdabass]

Hi Stephen

Ive been perfecting my recipe for quite a long time now.
I can post it if anyones interested.  ;D

[coogan]

Hi Mick,

Im interested! That tikka looks spot on - wife was reaching for the screen - moist, it's not even curry night until tomorrow!

bon tikka

[Ramirez]

wife was reaching for the screen - moist

 

I'll admit, when I read this I thought "wait....what?" - but I don't think you meant what I initially interpreted!  ;D

Rude thoughts aside, that Tikka does look wonderful Mick.

[bamble1976]

or did he!    I am shouting the wife to have a look as we speak ;D

Barry