(as taught on my recent cookery lessons)

Ingredients(chicken tikka)
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750g chicken breast
3 tablespoons yogurt
4 tablespoons mustard oil
1/2 teaspoon dry methi leaves
2 teaspoons garlic/ginger paste
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons Coleman's mint sauce
2 1/2 teaspoons mix powder here https://curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=4908.0
1 teaspoon Patak's kashmir masala paste
2 1/2 teaspoons Patak's tikka paste
1 1/2 teaspoons Patak's tandoori paste
1/2 juice medium lemon
small handfull fresh coriander
pinch orange food colour

Simply mix everything together,marinade the chicken for 24 hours and then slowly grill.

For tandoori chicken follow the above but use the following....

750g chicken legs or wings
1 1/2 teaspoons tikka paste
2 1/2 teaspoons tandoori paste
1 teaspoon tandoori powder
red colouring instead of orange

As I said before a bit disappointed with the abundance of pre made pastes,however I have to say that both were outstanding.Unlike my usual marinades these were quite thick and really seemed to cling to the chicken.The mustard oil was a little difficult to get hold of but I'm glad I did-it gave it that extra bit of flavour.The tikka was actually better than some takeaways I go to.

All bottles of mustard oil must be labelled 'FOR EXTERNAL USE' and its because by European law, mustard oil should contain  no more than 5% Erucic Acid but it contains 20-25% so that is why it has to be labelled like that or it would be illegal to sell, but they still use it for cooking.

Hi JB, I would agree that the use of paste is quite disappointing. I must admit though, my current tandoori recipe does call for the Rajah Tandoori paste which is damn good. But looking at the pictures you've posted, the marinade looks very thick, which can be seen on the cooked chicken. It would be very interesting to to see a comparison between the restaurants cooked tikka and your own having used their recipe.

I cook my tikka slightly differently though, I skewer the meat and rest this on a narrow roasting tin and pop it in an oven at 250c for 12-15 mins. This produces very succulent chicken with singed edges. You might like to try this.

Thanks for posting the recipe.

Hi jb

Thanks again for sharing more of your lessons with us. I think the use of tikka, tandoori and kashmir massala pastes are just a way of BIR life. I'm sure the posh ones wont but that isn't what we are trying to recreate. The recipe isn't dissimilar to Dipurajah's one which is my current favourite. I have a big bottle of unopened KTC mustard oil so I'll have to give this a go soon.

Chris