Chicken Tikka Masala What You Cooked Last Night Discuss Chicken Tikka Masala in the Brick Oven Cooking forums; Evening all, I tried something a little different tonight and it worked out pretty well! I just bought a spit ...

[Tim F]

Evening all,

I tried something a little different tonight and it worked out pretty well! I just bought a spit for the WFO and christened it with this recipe, which I made up after reading a few different versions on the net, and watching Heston Blumenthals version.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Garam Masala
You could probably use a pre mixed version of this but making it fresh makes a really, really big difference!
6 green cardamom pods
1 black cardamom pod
4 bay leaves
1/2 cinnamon stick
6 cloves
1 tsp black pepper corns
2 red chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
3 pimento berries

Dry roast all ingredients in a saucepan on low heat until fragrant and starting to brown. Blend to a powder in coffee grinder or mortar + pestle

Marinade
2 tsp of the Garam Masala
around 300ml yoghurt
1 tsp fenugreek leaves
2 level tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp grated ginger
5 cloves of garlic, mashed
1.5 kg chicken thighs, deboned

mix all ingredients and marinate overnight

Sauce
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds.
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
6 cloves
1 tsp black pepper corns

Dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds. Add to other spices and grind to a powder.

Finely chop 2 red chillies and fry on low in 4 tbsp oil for a minute. Add 2 medium onions, diced. Sautee on low for 5 minutes then add 3 chopped garlic cloves, 1 tbsp grated ginger, 1/2 tsp of the garam masala, and the spice mix from above. Cook until onions are translucent but not excessively browned.

Meanwhile, blend 3 400ml tins of tomatoes. Add 2 tsp tomato puree and 1 tsp red wine vinegar. Simmer this for 10 minutes.

Add the onions and spices to the tomato mix and simmer for another 10 minutes. Pour into food processor and blend until smooth. Pour in 300 ml cream and pulse until the cream is mixed in.

Take the marinated chicken thighs and thread onto a spit. Cook in WFO until edges are starting to brown/char, turning every couple of minutes. Remove from spit and slice. Add to tomato sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve with rice.


Sorry if that's a bit all over the shop, I just typed it from memory! But it was delicious and well received by our guests. The spit worked well - I just rested it on 2 bricks. The only trick is to thread the meat on as evenly as possible so that it is easy to turn without being weighed down on one side. I cooked it in a very hot oven - at pizza temperatures with a good flame going.

[egalecki]

Holy cow, that looks good, Tim! Well done! I'm going to have to try that soon. I've made my own curry powder before, and you're right, it does make a huge difference.

The only trouble is I don't know what a pimento berry is, and I have fenugreek seeds, but no idea where to get leaves. I can get curry leaves. Sometimes.

[Tim F]

Pimento is just the whole form of allspice (I'm pretty sure). I get fenugreek leaves from an indian grocer but they really aren't essential to be honest! In fact one of the things I love about 'indian' cooking is changing up the spices a bit every time. Sometimes I think that the point is more to have complexity in the flavours rather than get a specific contribution from every single spice you add.

[gjbingham]

Nice! Where's the naan?
G.

[Tim F]

I know, I thought of it but too late to have a decent one ready in time. Next time!

[Frances]

Wow, how impressive is that?!

Now I'm just wondering if I can get my act together and try that... it looks absolutely delicious!

[Tim F]

I reckon you could do all kinds of things on a spit in the WFO like this. The spit itself was under $20 at a BBQ shop (I saw them even cheaper at Gaganis Bros for Adeladians) and the bricks to prop it up were free

Next I'm going to try just brining the chicken pieces with some lemon juice, garlic and rosemary, then cooking the same way and maybe just serving with salad and flatbread. Or even slicing them up and then using as a pizza topping!

[Modthyrth]

Wow, nice! It looks absolutely delicious! Do you have a naan recipe you like and might be willing to share as well?

[gjbingham]

I think someone posted a great sounding naan recipe on this board. Do a search for it. I'm sure you will find it. I've tried about 10 different recipes, but none in my WFO. None have resulted in bread even remotely similar to the naan I've had in restaraunts. Perhaps the one on this site will.
G.

[Tim F]

I have to say that none of my attempts at naan have been too much like what you get in a restaurant. My best versions have just been a pizza dough made with some oil, pressed out and drizzled with garlic oil. I tried peter reinharts wholemeal version which was basically just a wholemeal soaker with lots of the moisture in the dough coming from yoghurt, but I found it a little hard in the electric oven. I will try again in the WFO though.