Bob - your mass production curry exploits have got me thinking... over here in Canada, most Indian Restaurants focus on the buffet style. Large plates of various curries etc under heat lamps, replenished as they get eaten, or just turn foul.

This type of Indian restaurant, I cannot stand. Awful curries. I'd rather eat McDonalds.

Since learning BIR cooking - base plus mains cooked on demand - I can see why the "buffet" style could never replicate what I remember as proper BIR.

You seem to be doing it with the Taz base and established cr0 main recipes. Does it scale well? Why don't the buffet guys do it? Cost?

Just curious what you think.

Cheers and great work,
-- Josh

Hey Malc,

I'm also on a health kick until my vitals get back to where they should be, so Tandoori Chicken fits the bill. I'd say try the recipe as is - and see what works and doesn't work for you. Personally next time I make this recipe I will probably add a little spice mix, lemon and coriander. Maybe a very tiny amount of Pataks  :-X just to round out the flavour.

As for Piri Piri chicken, this too is a favourite of mine and a regular at the dinner table. Fortunately for me, Toronto apparently has the most "Churrasqueiras" outside of Lisbon. They are everywhere in my part of the city, kind of like how I remember BIRs being everywhere in the UK 

-- Josh

Thanks all for the input.

I suppose there isn't much of a taste difference, more a question of practicality.

I made a batch of pre cooked chicken yesterday and froze it in portion size freezer bags. I'll see if I can pick out any difference between frozen and fresh.

Thanks again,
Josh

Hi All,

I'm sure this question has come up in another thread before, but a quick survey of this category came up blank.

Up until now, I've always pre cooked my chicken for a few days/curries worth at a time. I've started buying chicken breast at Costco (bulk warehouse) as its about a quarter of the price of my local grocery. There is so much of it though, that I need to freeze it.

Would I be better off freezing the fresh breasts? or precooking the chicken in bengali spices etc and freezing then?

Just wondering what others have found...

Thanks!

-- Josh

George,

QuoteSo what led you to invest time and ingredients in this recipe when you were "expecting to be disappointed by the end result"?

A few things really. First the recipe came from an Indian chef running his own restaurant (albeit focused on traditional cooking rather than BIR). The recipe was well-laid out and illustrated, especially the chicken prep piece. And the finished article looked great. Those factors overruled my initial suspicion that the marinade itself was a little "basic".

Not to mention, there aren't many "tandoori chicken" recipes on cr0. And I don't subscribe to the notion that tikka and tandoori are the same, from a marinade perspective.

Also I'm far from dismissing lemon and mint... like I said I would continue to play with some additional ingredients and tweak Ajoy's recipe - which by itself without modification produces a very tasty end result.

-- Josh

Unbelievable...

Quotecould you explain, please, for the benefit of your British readers ?

Phil - to me, a broiler is an element at the top of the oven cavity for searing foods. So for the tandoori chicken, after 45 minutes cooking, I just turned it to broil for about 2 minutes.

Here's a picture of mine. This is a gas-fuelled one. Typically they are elements that heat electrically.

Is a broiler something else in the UK? I forget!

-- Josh

QuoteHow did you cook it please? - did you use a BBQ or just under your normal grill?

I oven baked it on high heat for about 45 minutes, then I turned on the oven broiler and gave it a scorching to develop the char you see in the pics.

QuoteAs and when and if you tweek the recipe to your liking would you be kind and post it since there are very few tandoori chicken recipes on here

I agree - a whole tandoori chicken is a healthy alternative to the usual curry. I even managed some mixed greens with this one! I will probably give this a go (and some tweaks/changes) every couple of weeks and if I stumble on a marked improvement, I will post it on cr0. The biggest learning for me was how to prep the chicken per the original recipe.

-- Josh

QuoteYou mean it hadn't been Pataked to death. 

You're probably right, SS.

But I was also referring to mint sauce, mustard oil, methi, coriander, lemon juice - and some of the others that crop up from time to time in a marinade.

- Josh

I noticed a link to this recipe on another post... http://thoughtsfromajoy.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/the-king-of-kebabs-perfect-for-a-fathers-day-lunch-or-dinner/

Not having had tandoori chicken in over a decade, I thought I'd try this recipe out. Here are some pics:





I intended to follow the recipe to spec, although some of the measurements are suspect or unclear. For example, that's considerably more than a teaspoon of whole cardamon in the "Kebab Garam Masala". There is also no measurement of garam that actually gets applied to the chicken. I guessed here and there but followed to spec mostly.

The instruction on prepping the whole chicken for tandoori, as well as the stage 1 marinade were very useful and could be applied to different variations of the main marinade.

I was expecting to be disappointed by the end result, as it seemed quite simple and devoid of many of the "BIR tikka" marinade ingredients. The result was actually delicious. I will play with the marinade going forward though to try and replicate closer to the tandoori flavour I remember.

-- Josh