i have been asked to cook a chicken tikka masala for tomorrow night and i have looked at the recipe on site so i am going to use that. what i thought i would do is marinade the chicken in some tandoori masala then grill it on skewers and add it to the sauce once cooked. i will still follow all the instructions to make the sauce and i will use all of the same spices. is tandoori masala more or less (if not the same) as tikka masala or are they very different? i have seen some recipes that use mint in tikka masala. is it traditional to use mint or not?

sid

chicken tikka masala is not traditional (Indian at least). It is made up UK.

Tikka means bits, but really chicken tikka is bite sized chicken breast marinated in spices and grilled in a tandoor. Why anyone would want to put those delicious bits under a sauce is beyond me. Bit like splashing brown sauce on smoked bacon!

Tandoori chicken uses a whole chicken, and the spicing is darker (using garam masala) because the whole chicken takes longer to cook, so more spice flavour escapes during cooking.

As CTM is completely made up, who knows what your guest will expect.

Having said that, there are real dishes (from the Punjab, each side of the divide!) that use tandoori chicken and a sauce, one is butter chicken, now often ruined by adding tomatoes, and one a modification of a hotel dish, which may have been the inspiration of CTM. I have even developed one myself which uses tandoori spiced chicken breasts and a ginger and tomato sauce.

As Lapis says, CTM is a British dish. Tikka is Indian but not Tikka Masala. The fact remains though that it is very, very popular in UK and in great demand, so it cannot be ignored.

?is tandoori masala more or less (if not the same) as tikka masala or are they very different? i have seen some recipes that use mint in tikka masala. is it traditional to use mint or not??

Everyone uses/makes their masalas (spice mixes) differently, so who is to say what is absolutely right. Mine changes from time to time, depending upon where I am, what is to hand and what mood I am in. Your spice-mix needs to be flavoursome and hot?ish. I can guarantee you that people will not know which one you used, as long as it tastes good. So do not worry too much about it, use whichever you have. Lapis says, ?As CTM is completely made up, who knows what your guest will expect?, I say that they will not know exactly what to expect as it varies from restaurant to restaurant and chef to chef :-).

Brown sauce on smoked bacon!!! Wonderful :)