While watching a cookery programme on satelite the other day a famous TV Chef made "chicken tikka massala" and my other half commented on how rich and tasty it looked! I personally thought it seemed to be lacking in spice, love and affection! Everything was done in minutes and nothing had time to take on any real flavours, or so it would seem !

So last night we decided to give it a try ! However while making it I did say I'm not putting all the chilli in that he used as it seemed way too much! 2 tsps chilli powder in the yoghurt mix for the marinade and another 1 in the sauce mix! So I halved his measurements for the chilli powder and it was still mind bendingly hot ! I'm used to hot food and have been to the extremes of vindaloo's etc but this was only just eatable and Mrs AskCy couldn't eat hers!

It was also very gingery and lacking in any real flavour as it only used turmeric (another 2 tsps of !), cumin 1 tsp, corriander seeds 2 tsp and garlic, ginger and salt!.

The onions we browned up a lot more than he did, and we also cooked the chicken to brown it prior to adding all the liquid to the pan (which he didn't, he just put the water! and cream into the pan then added the chicken so it basically washed the marrinade off!)...

needless to say I wasn't very impressed ! To be honest it tasted a lot like one of those cheap microwave meals you get at frozen food places (yes even I have had them at some point)which coming from a "top chef" with michelin starred restaurants you'd expect better!

I think it was just his take on what Indian food** should have in it and used the basic known herbs and spices. There wasn't even any cinnamon, cardamon, cloves or fresh chillies in there !

Oh well you live and learn, next time I'm either going to follow my own nose or use one of the ones on here !

Steve

** I know its not really Indian in origin, well techinically it was an Indian chef adopting a recipe so it makes it Indian.

Further to the last post !

I've just made myself a member of the site and posted a comment about the recipe on there ! I'm sure a big name chef can handle someone saying what they think of the recipe and it might help him to tweak it !

comment -

"Made this last night and to be honest wasn't very impressed ! Way too much chilli, too much ginger and not enough body to it. Missing spices like cinnamon, clove and cardamon and the chicken needed to be cooked prior to going into the final dish otherwise the marinade just washes into the sauce ! If you get "chicken tikka" the marinade is normally baked into the meat in a tandoor and then this would be added into the sauce giving the contrasts between meat and sauce. This recipe at best tasted like a microwave meal ! - sorry but I've had better !"

Steve

Well Steve, if they expect and accept positive comments, surely they will welcome knowing what is not so good about there recipe! After saying that, each chef must have their own idea about how to make a recipe, as long as it tastes and looks good. So your comments should be welcome and you may get a reply. You did not give out your home address, so you are quite safe ;-)!

Mamta

I didn't see the show, or know the name of the chef, but I think I understand what you are saying. Just for the record, chicken tikka is a kebab thing, then, for 'CTM' the roasted chicken bits are put into a masala sauce (taste according to restaurant only). Very easy for the restaurant to make.

The recipe you outline is not of this type, but non-Indian chefs seem to be completely lost when it comes to technique. It seems they think if they put Indian ingredients together in a dish, it will turn out fine. Of course, this is seldom correct. Just for fun one day, I gave myself a list of ingredients and worked out how many different Indan dishes I could make with only those ingredients. I counted 32, but I'm sure Mamta could add a few more.

The point is that a recipe is more than a list of ingredients (usually) and the many different techniques found in pan-Indian cookery makes it the most varied of any cuisine IMHO.

What you ended up with Steve, seems to be best described as boiled chicken in a hot sauce, hardly Indian, is it? Look for a good Indian recipe next time, and I'm sure you will not be dissapointed.

"boiled chicken in a hot sauce" yes thats a perfect description of it !

Steve

Oooh I'm ever so curious about who the chef was, now!