I'll have to get some Pataks tikka paste and retry Blades recipe replacing the Pataks tandoori paste. I could make 2 and compare the tikka versus tandoori paste.

CA - Tandoori chicken (on the bone) always has the skin removed before the marinade.

TBH I'm not looking for 2 different treatments or tastes for tikka or tandoori. Just one good repeatable recipe will do me for both.

I liked the CA recipe as it did not require any pre-made ingredients like Pataks but I need to modify a bit as it came across a bit too garlicky.

They won't last long in a jar with oil. Either freeze them as already posted or google for pickling chillis - you would need to use vinegar and pickling salts to keep the bugs from growing.

It does look very close to Blades recipe, but minus mint and using Pataks tikka not tandoori paste.

I find I need to add yoghurt to get Blades recipe to work.

I guess there must be some difference between tikka and tandoori (apart from the bones) as manufacturers such as Pataks make 2 different products to cater for each.

To my mind Tikka is more sour and lightly spiced and the red colour almost verges on a slightly pink color. Tandoori (aways on the bone) is more robustly spiced and the red colour has more of an orange hue.

I'm still looking for a tikka recipe that tastes more BIR (from my memories) than Mr Huda's Tikka paste which I was using until recently.

Hi 976bar,

If you are worried about oil consumption here is my take on things for what it is worth:

Don't use vegetable ghee - full of transfats and hydrogenated fats.
Don't use cheap margarine - same as above.

For butter ghee the jury is still out on that one.

I use rice bran oil to make my curries. Check it out on Google but they say it is as healthy as olive oil and can take high temperatures without degrading.
Sainsburys have started selling this stuff - about ?2 for 500 ml.

I have also started using virgin coconut oil for some of my final stage curries. This is very expensive at 25p a tablespoon but it tastes great. Some people say you should avoid this as it is 93% saturated but it is a unique oil and world populations that consume loads of pure coconut oil have little heart problems. Once again it is worth googling this stuff. Note that this coco oil is unprocessed. The cheap coconut oil and bars you can buy are full of the hydrogenated fats due to processing.

If you eat the right oils you then only have to worry about the high calories. I reckon if you are planning a blow-out curry you can eat a bit less during the day to compensate.

Paul.

Chriswg,

I reckon you could still fry those ingredients in half the amount of oil, say 100ml. Of course you would have to stir it more. Then if you added about 700 ml water instead of 300, you might end up with about a litre of base sauce which would be thinner but still fit in a normal upright blender and doesn't require a big stock pan.

JerryM,

I once tried 2 de-seeded green chillis in a base preparation and I liked the result. Probably not BIR style due to extra cost but still nice. Wife didn't like a korma I made with it so I have to go easy on the heat of my bases to keep a happy family!

Interesting stuff though - I'm still not sure about the effect of the yoghurt without trying it myself first.

Just a few other observations from me:

I made another batch of SnS 2008 base last night and your list of ingredients doesn't look much less to be honest. In terms of preparation there probably isn't much in it and I wouldn't call it quick. But at the end of the full base I have enough for 10 curries.

If you made 4 curries with your base that would be 50 ml of oil per person before you add extra oil to make the final dish - that's quite a lot of oil.

I'm also not sure what effect the yoghurt would have on the flavour.

I appreciate your efforts to product an "instant" curry without a pre-prepared or full base so please don't take it the wrong way.

Paul.

I'm just knocking up my fifth batch of this base. This time I have only used half a tin of plum tomatoes taking into account the comments about too much tomato.

I'll let you know if it is better or worse with this change when I've made a curry with it.

Also, first time I tried my hand blender and I was surprised how effective it was. Previously I had used my upright 1.5 litre blender but so much cleaning to do afterwards.  I've got my new freezer now so will experiment soon with a different base recipe.

Paul.

Also, where is the tikka part of this recipe? - it just says chicken.

Looks like this one pictures and all:

http://arad-daagh.blogspot.com/2005/12/chicken-billista.html