Hi, this is my first post. It seems friendly here so I thought to try asking for any tips or suggestions on a Chicken Tikka Masala recipe I've been changing and piecing together from various recipes (including on this website) over the 3 or 4 times I've made it. My family and I absolutely love Indian cuisine, and in particular, Chicken Tikka Masala, so I'm trying to make the recipe as perfect and delicious as possible. Here is the recipe:

Chicken Tikka Masala

?? ? ? ?for 8 portions

Half ingredients if cooking only for 4. ?

Marinade:

? 1?tbs oil??

? half handful finely chopped fresh coriander leaves (or 1 tsp of powder)

? 2?tbsp ginger paste (or 1 inch piece grated)

? 3?tbsp garlic paste (or 6 cloves)

? 1 lime/ lemon juice

? 1?tsp crushed cardamom seeds (or powder)

? 2 bay leaves

? 1 tsp cumin

? 1/2 tsp turmeric

? 1 tsp paprika

? 1 tsp crushed chilies

? 3 tsp tikka masala

? 1 tsp garam masala

? 1 & 1/2 tsp black pepper

? 1 tsp cinnamon

? 3?tsp soft brown sugar

? 2 - 4 tsp salt (to taste)

? 1 cup fresh yogurt

? 1 kg chicken (or 8-10 breasts) pierced with fork a few times and cut into chunks

Gravy:

? 2tbs butter

? 4tbs oil

? 4?medium-sized onions finely chopped

? 10?cloves garlic chopped fine

? 2?inch piece of grated Ginger (or 2 tbsp paste)

? 1 - 2 tsp crushed chillies

? 1 tsp turmeric

? 2?tsp cumin seeds

? 2?tsp cinnamon

? 2?tsp crushed cardamom pods (or 1+1/2 level of powder)

? 4?bay leaves

? 2?tin (800 gms approx) tomatoes or 12 medium-sized fresh tomatoes chopped fine

? 3?tbsp tomato puree

? 5?tsp tikka masala

? 4?tsp soft brown sugar

? 6?tbsp almonds and/or cashew nuts blanched and ground to a paste

? salt to taste

? 2?tsp garam masala

? handful?finely chopped fresh coriander leaves

? 1 cup single cream and some yoghurt or creme fraiche

Marinade

1. Grind the chopped coriander (keep some aside for garnishing) and all other marinade ingredients (except yoghurt) to a smooth paste in a food processor.

2. Pour the above mix into a large bowl and add yoghurt and chicken. Mix well.

3. Cover the bowl and refrigerate. Allow to marinate overnight.

Main

1. Preheat your oven or grill to highest (240 C/ 400F/ Gas Mark 6).

2. Thread the chicken onto skewers.?Place the skewers on the grill racks in your oven with a tray underneath to catch drippings. Roast until the chicken is browned on all sides and slightly charred.

3. Heat the butter and?oil in a large wok or pan. Add cumin, cardamoms, bay leaves and cinnamon stick. As soon as cumin seeds crackle add onion, ginger and garlic and fry until nicely browned.

4. Add the tikka masala, brown sugar, tomatoes, tomato pur?e, almonds and mix well. Cook till the tomatoes are soft and a thick paste forms.

5. Add the grilled Chicken Tikkas (chunks/ pieces) and stir. Cook for 10 minutes.

6. Turn the heat to minimum, add the cream, the 1/2 tsp garam masala and the coriander leaves. Stir well.

7. Adjust salt/sugar/chillies/tikka masala to taste and turn the heat off.

A couple of questions with the current recipe:

• the part where I cook the gravy into a thick paste, it tastes amazing but seems I need a lot of cream to thin the sauce out, but that much cream makes it overly rich. Is there another way to thin the sauce? Would cooking it to the paste and then adding some extra tomato juice help, or would that just defeat the point of turning it into a paste?

• Am I using too many spices? I have realized I am almost entirely duplicating the marinade spices with the gravy spices. Considering most of the marinade ends up on the chicken and ultimately in the gravy anyway, is there a way I should be balancing these spices more efficiently?

• The drippings from the roasted chicken, should I add this to the gravy? I've wondered about this for extra flavor but never seen any recipes suggesting it so am unsure about it.

Finally, any suggestions on further ingredients I should explore or better balancing of spices would be great and very helpful.

Oh, and any suggestions on the next curry I should try cooking for my family?

Hi Luke, welcome!

Wow! That is quite some list of ingredients, all you need for a good CTM (plus some more) I'd be tempted to edit the recipe looking to simplify it rather than adding anything else. Initial ideas are:

I'd look at Mamta's recipe: www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10311 to trim it back and then look at adding other ingredients to your taste

If your gravy in too thick try just adding a little hot chicken stock to thin it a little

When you say '3 tsp tikka masala' do you mean some sort of commercial mix? If so you really should not need it as you have all the spices individually and some yet again with the garam masala.

I would not add the chicken dripping as you say it is quite rich already

I'm surprised you need any sugar - I'd just a teaspoon or so at the end if needed to taste.

For other 'family favourites' with other meats both Mamta's Beef Madras and Lamb Rogan Josh always go down well. Just use the 'search facility' at the top of each page to put in your favourite ingredients and see what comes up!

Good luck, Winton

Hello Luke

My first reaction is also like Winton Vow!

Secondly, let me say that it is lovely to see that you like cooking and are prepared to go to to that much trouble, experimenting to get one dish right, great :-)!

I am wondering why you need to repeat all the spices twice. For 1 kg. chicken, there are an awful lot of these in your recipe.

Purpose of marinating is tenderising meat and enhancing flavours, but one can overdo it, if one is not careful. Spices are for adding gentle flavours and for me, even chillies are for a gentle kick, not taking the roof of your mouth. If you add the same ones to marinade, as well as the chicken/meat, ask yourself why you need so much. After all, you are not trying to copy a chicken tikka from a cheap restaurant. Also, you are giving yourself an awful lot of work.

Ultimate guide are your own taste buds and you have to be guided by them. More is not always better IMHO, that is all. I have added a few comments below, see if that makes sense to you, but be guided by your taste;

? 1 tbs oil

? half handful finely chopped fresh coriander leaves (or 1 tsp of powder)

? 2 tbsp ginger paste (or 1 inch piece grated)

? 3 tbsp garlic paste (or 6 cloves)

? 1 lime/ lemon juice

? 1 tsp crushed cardamom seeds (or powder)

? 2 bay leaves* Not needed in marinade

? 1 tsp cumin Is it powder?

? 1/2 tsp turmeric

? 1 tsp paprika

? 1 tsp crushed chilies * Doesn?t your tikka masala have these already?

? 3 tsp tikka masala

? 1 tsp garam masala * You don?t really need this, if using tikka masala, which probably has all it's ingredients.

? 1 & 1/2 tsp black pepper * Garam masala already has this, as does tikka masala, in all probability

? 1 tsp cinnamon * Garam masala already has cinnamon

? 3 tsp soft brown sugar why?

? 2 - 4 tsp salt (to taste)* I think 4 tsp. might be too much? But depends on your taste.

? 1 cup fresh yogurt

? 1 kg chicken (or 8-10 breasts) pierced with fork a few times and cut into chunks

Gravy:

? 2tbs butter

? 4tbs oil

? 4 medium-sized onions finely chopped

? 10 cloves garlic chopped fine * Seems like an awful lot, but depends upon the size of cloves.

? 2 inch piece of grated Ginger (or 2 tbsp paste)

? 1 - 2 tsp crushed chillies* (check how much are there in tikka masala and adjust accordingly)

? 1 tsp turmeric* (careful, too much will give a slightly bitter taste, so make a level tsp.)

? 2 tsp cumin seeds

? 2 tsp cinnamon * be careful, you already have some in the marinade. You could use a stick or two of cinnamon stick along with you bay leaves and cardamoms.

? 2 tsp crushed cardamom pods (or 1+1/2 level of powder)

? 4 bay leaves

? 2 tin (800 gms approx) tomatoes or 12 medium-sized fresh tomatoes chopped fine * Are you sure you need tow tins?

? 3 tbsp tomato puree

? 5 tsp tikka masala * Again?

? 4 tsp soft brown sugar * won?t it make it taste like Chicken Chashni? You already have some in the marinade.

? 6 tbsp almonds and/or cashew nuts blanched and ground to a paste

? salt to taste

? 2 tsp garam masala * this might become too much, unless you are using a ready made GM, bulked with cumin or coriander seeds.

? handful finely chopped fresh coriander leaves

? 1 cup single cream and some yoghurt or creme fraiche

Good luck and get back to us when you have finally got the taste you are seeking.

Mamta

Looking at the spices in Luke's recipe I think I can safely say that it would one extremely potent dish LOL.

Hello Luke, here are my comments, which are meant to help you, not to criticize!

The recipe looks like one for tandoori chicken, rather than tikka. The tikka means (or implies) bits, which I think is what you were after. And they are cooked in a tandoor, so a very hot oven, or best, is a very hot grill, which is what I always use.

If you want tikka, cut the breasts into bite-sized chunks, and thread onto skewers, or leave the breasts whole, score deep cuts on both sides, and lay on a grill tray (after marinating!).

The spicing is causing concern. It looks like the ideas I had when I first tried Indian cooking, but over the years, I have learnt to use less spice, so I can taste the meat and veg as well! For Tandoori chicken, I would use no more than 3 teaspoons of spice mix for chicken for four.

Looking at the list of spices, I would suggest

half handful finely chopped fresh coriander leaves (always fresh)

? 1 inch piece fresh ginger root,

? 4 cloves of garlic

? 1 tbsp lime juice

? 1/4 tsp crushed green cardamom seeds (not powder)

? 2 bay leaves (no need, its the same flavour as in the cardamom)

? 1/2 tsp cumin

? 1/2 tsp turmeric

? 1 tsp paprika (not needed)

? 1 tsp crushed chilies (not really need, but up to you)

? 3 tsp tikka masala (do not add this, there is enough spice already, and you don't know what is really in it!)

? 1 tsp garam masala (you already have cardamom and cinnamon, you only need a pinch of cloves and mace now!)

? 1 tsp black pepper

? 1 tsp cinnamon (don't need, see GM above, its probably cassia, anyway!)

? 3 tsp soft brown sugar (do not add sugar, its not needed)

? 2 - 4 tsp salt (to taste) (do not add, it will draw the moisture out of the chicken, as will the sugar)

I would add 1 tsp ground coriander powder.

To save time, and have a better flavoured spice mix, I would use whole coriander and cumin seeds, and roast them a little in a dry frying pan until they just start to smoke. Take off the heat, and add the other dry spices.

Grind when cold. Then use up to three teaspoons of this mix per four people.

For the sauce, I would leave out the spices all together. It is going to over power the chicken. Here is my ginger/tomato sauce, which goes very well with the chicken.

Fry sliced ginger in butter/ghee, until crisp. Remove the ginger, and chop finely. Add a tin of tomatoes, and add back the ginger. Macerate the mix until smooth. Cook for a while, the sauce should darken a little. Now add lime juice from half a lime, and a little cream, to balance the lime. This needs to be done by tasting! Lastly, adjust the seasoning by taste. Add any drips form the cooked chicken.

In the original recipe (from the 1950's in India), cooked chicken juices were added to tomatoes, and cream and lime juice added to balance, very French!!!)

Before serving the chicken you can sprinkle with tandoori chat masala, a kind of spicy salt, which really brings out the flavour of the meat. Do NOT sprinkle with garam masala!!

HTH

Looks good ....bloody hell - all this is making me drool Yummy!!!!

Hehe. Thanks a lot for all the replies everyone! You've given me exactly what I wanted.

Winton- Thanks a lot! I will definitely use your suggestion for adding chicken stock to thin it a little.

Mamta- Thank you so much for the advice. You are right that I'm giving myself a lot of work. It's taking me 3 hours to cook it! Eek. I will definitely look closer at the ingredients and adjust them to your suggestions.

Lapis- Thank you for the cooking technique and other suggestions, and you're certainly right about a lot of those ingredients, including the salt and sugar.

To answer one of the questions asked by everyone: Both the tikka masala and the garam masala are, alas, commercial mixes. Fiddes Payne if anyone recognizes them. I am slightly confused too why I am duplicating ingredients that already exist in the mixes, but almost every tikka masala recipe I've read has said to include many of the ingredients AND add a tikka masala or garam masala mix. I am afraid to make the recipe without them! They do seem to contain a couple of ingredients I don't have, such as fenugreek and cloves. But you are all more expert than I am, so if you think that neither the tikka masala or the garam masala will be adding any benefit, I can experiment with cutting the cord and taking them out altogether.

I've definitely taken to heart the idea that I should be able to taste the meat and other ingredients too! I think the reason I got to this radical amount of ingredients is because one flavor would overpower another, so I'd add more of the other to compensate, meaning I would need to overcompensate with other ingredients, and so on in that fashion; a big dangerous cycle! So i'll definitely simplify the recipe for next time.

I definitely don't want this to taste like a cheap restaurant. I want to try and mimic a recipe I tasted in an incredible London Indian restaurant a few years ago. It tasted so good with such lovely flavor. I feel I'm missing something but I don't know what. I'll keep trying.

I've decided I probably need to learn a bit more about Indian flavors, so I am going to try Winton's recommendation for Mamta's Beef Madras tomorrow. Sounds yummy! :)

when it comes to spicing, learning less is more is two steps in the right direction. If you grill your chicken, which I recommend, you need to take it to just charring stage.

IMHO, garam masala is just a little too powerful (if homemade). Try the simpler spicing first (many of my recipes contain just 3 or 4 spices!). Look out for tandoori chat masala, it really adds to the overall meaty flavour when sprinkled sparingly on the chicken.