TANDOORI AND TIKKA

TANDOORI AND TIKKA

Ingredients:
1 cook's spoon or 4 Tbsp. Oil
A little finely sliced red and green pepper
1 tsp. spice mixture
Pinch of chilli
¼ tsp. fenugreek leaves
2 tsp. tomato puree
3 pinches salt
1 portion (7 oz.) curry gravy
1 portion tandoori cooked meat (See Tandoori Cooking)
2 oz. single cream
Chopped coriander leaves

Directions:
As for a standard curry. When ready to serve, add cream, stir in and heat, then drain excess oil and add chopped coriander
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TANDOORI COOKING:
First the bad news - in the absence of a tandoor you are not going to produce tandoori dishes the way a typical restaurant can.
Having said that, you will be able to cook something that is quite acceptable. If you want to do better than that, you could consider
the possibility of installing a domestic-size tandoor. This is a major undertaking; it is not suitable for use in a domestic kitchen
without a very efficient extractor system. A cooker hood is not good enough. Also, you would have to consider where you were
going to store your charcoal. Gas tandoors are available, but you may just as well use the oven as one of these. The problem is that
charcoal, when first lit, produces lots of smoke and dust. And cooking produces smoke, too. Oil in marinades and fat from meat
burns on the charcoal. There are also the exhaust fumes to consider. I have a domestic tandoor. It is a cube of slightly under two
feet per side; it is mounted on castors, and needs two strong men to lift it. It is in a utility room with two doors opening outside for
ventilation. I have fitted a sink and work surface with cupboard and drawers under for use with it, and dust isn't too much of a
problem. Since installing it I haven't looked back. The cost? About half that of a good domestic cooker.
PRINCIPLE OF TANDOORI COOKING:
The commonly held belief is that the tandoor must be made of clay, and this helps to flavour the food cooked in it. This is no doubt
because in India tandoors are made of clay, and food cooked in them is different from that cooked in a conventional oven. The
tandoor can in fact be made of any earthenware material. All that matters is that it gets very hot and bread dough will stick to it.
The unique flavour is the result of fat and oil burning on the charcoal, producing smoke which flavours it. (Incidentally, you won't
notice the smokey flavour if you stand over the tandoor while the meat cooks.) It is rather like barbeque cooking, enhanced by the
enclosed fire. In the tandoor, meat is cooked on long thick skewers or rods by a combination of very intense radiated heat and
convective heat. Naan is cooked by conducted heat on one side, and the same radiated and convective heat on the other. Meat to be
cooked in the tandoor is marinated in yogurt, spices, and other ingredients. It is usually brightly coloured. This, of course, doesn't
affect the flavour, it is just to make it look more attractive. (And thereby, maybe, enhance enjoyment.) Without the colouring, it
would be a dull, greyish colour. Naan dough is rolled into a flat round and slapped on to the side of the tandoor. Keema nan is
stuffed with raw sheek kebab. It doesn't taste much like sheek kebab, though, because it doesn't cook so long or so fiercely.
Tandoori cookery really took off in restaurants in Britain in the late 1960's, but there is a reference to it in a book by tames Herriot
so maybe it was not unknown much earlier. The recipes that follow are 'Authentic Restaurant Tandoori', if there is such a thing;
they work in a tandoor, they will work in your oven, but then they won’t taste as though they were cooked in a tandoor. The
difference won’t be that great with meat, it will lack the smokey, barbeque flavour. Naan, however, will be noticeably different.
TANDOORI CHICKEN / CHICKEN TIKKA:
Prepared chicken - see below
1 pinch chilli powder
2 pinches garam masala
2 pinches cumin seed
1 pinch fennel seed
1 /2 tsp. fenugreek leaves
1 / tsp. salt
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2 heaped Tsp. garlic and ginger puree
1 rounded Tbsp. spice mixture
3 Tbsp. P.L.J. (straight from bottle)
8 Tbsp. Mustard oil
Food colouring as necessary
250 gm. tub Yogurt (mild type)
Poppy seeds
Coriander leaves
(The above quantities will marinate up to 10 portions.)
METHOD:
Prepare the chicken. For tikka, skin and bone. Leave small breast fillets whole, large ones can be cut lengthwise into two strips.
The rest of the meat should be cut into strips about 11 /2 inches wide. For tandoori chicken, skin and cut into joints, and make deep
cuts in the flesh so that the marinade can penetrate. Place the chicken along with the rest of the ingredients except the poppy seeds
and coriander, in a bowl, and mix thoroughly, working the marinade into the meat. Sprinkle with poppy seeds until the surface is
covered, then add plenty of coriander leaves. The mixture is now left to marinate, the longer the better. It can be refrigerated for
two days, but remember that it is not a good idea to cook meat straight from the fridge, as the temperature may be only just above
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freezing, and it may not cook all the way through. When ready to cook, stir well, so that the meat is coated with the poppy seeds
and coriander leaves.
COOKING IT:
Heat the oven to a very high temperature. Tikka should be threaded on to thick skewers, tandoori portions skewered at their
thickest point. Place in the oven, as high as possible, over a tray to catch the drips, but avoid resting the skewers on the tray as this
will inhibit the circulation of hot air and increase the cooking time. Tikka should be done in about 20 minutes, tandoori about 5
minutes longer. It should have some black spots. Tikka is cut into pieces after it is removed from the skewers.
MEAT TIKKA:
Leg of lamb is the most suitable meat. Beef I have found to produce generally disappointing results, usually tough and fibrous.
Even fillet steak seems to produce a result that doesn't match up to lamb.
METHOD:
Remove the meat from the bone, and cut into suitably sized pieces with as little membrane and fat as possible. The marinade is
basically the same as for chicken but additionally contains 2 rounded Tsp. of Colman’s Bottled Mint Sauce. This gives a totally
different flavour and smell. Also, it is a goad idea to use a different colouring for meat. I use deep orange for chicken tikka and red
for meat. To cook, proceed as for chicken. It will probably be done sooner, about 15 minutes.
SHEEK KEBAB:
Sheek kebab is quick and easy to make, and cooks well in the oven or under the grill. In the tandoor it only takes about 5 minutes,
and produces large quantities of smoke as fat drips onto the charcoal. Minced beef is totally unsuitable for this dish, not because
there is anything wrong with the flavour, but because it doesn’t bind together, and wont stay on a skewer. This isn’t too bad if it is
being cooked on a tray under the grill, (Even then the texture will be wrong) but very embarrassing if you try to cook it in a
tandoor. Minced lamb is really the only meat to use. Butchers often don’t stock this, but will usually supply it to order.