We had several friends over to celebrate our housewarming Saturday evening and I thought a great way to spend the afternoon would be to cook up a set of fantastic Indian food for everyone to enjoy. I was a little nervous about preparing so much food (approximately 12 pounds for 10 people) so I printed out the recipes and an action list and posted it on the fridge for reference. The food that followed was actually quite simple to make. With the help of two highly capable co-chefs and modern machinery we were able to complete all three dishes (plus a healthy quantity of basmati rice) in only two hours. (I exclude the time to marinate meat and soak lentils, which must be done beforehand).
As the box above implies this post will go into the most-requested recipe for chicken tikka. I apologize in advance if this disillusions anyone, but the recipe for chicken tikka is actually quite simple. I bought a jar of Patak’s Tikka Marinade, mixed the contents with 10 Tbsp (almost 2/3 cup) of Trader Joe’s creamy European yogurt, and marinated 40 oz of cut up (boneless skinless) chicken breast in the mixture for a little over an hour. Then we baked the contents in a Pyrex baking tray for 45 minutes, and let sit for another 45 (mostly because we were busy with the other dishes). The chicken turned out quite tender; the only way I can think of to get it more tender would be to marinate it longer (perhaps first in beer for 30 minutes and then the marinade).
However there are a couple of comments to make on the recipe. One is that the recipe should also turn out very well if you use (boneless skinless) chicken thighs in place of chicken breasts. This would save you $1 per pound on average; here it would have saved $2.50. I intend on trying this next time and I suspect I will just need to marinate the meat longer for it to turn out well.
Second, the curry paste is a simple combination of spices. The most important are ground coriander, cumin, salt, chili powder, ginger and garlic. So yes, I could have made my own curry (by mixing those in oil and water) but I didn’t, because:
- It is a waste of time. Most Indians (in the US) don’t scratch together curries if they don’t have to.
- The curry paste has 3% tamarind, which you’re not going to find very easily, and sometimes tamarind is that key that makes Indian dishes taste more authentic.
So in summary, the steps are as follows. You can scale this up and down to your liking.
- Buy a jar of Patak’s Tikka Paste. In Berkeley any ethnic store should have them.
- Mix the contents (approx 200 mL) with 10 Tbsp (150 mL) creamy yogurt. As you can see this is a 4:3 volume ratio.
- Marinate up to 40 oz (perhaps up to 48 oz) for at least 1 hour.
- Bake in a large pan at 350 F for about 45 minutes. Let sit for at least another 15 minutes.
And a round of applause for the chefs!
Looks tasty man, sorry I could not make it (and happy birthday, I know your birthday is sometime around this month).
If I can find the curry paste here in Van I will attempt to do this either as a tofu or tempeh marinade. I have heard if you freeze the tofu overnight, it makes it have a more chicken-like texture.
But the main reason I am here is to say, hey, throw out those other recipes as well! All the food on that plate looked great, and I need more things to cook. (or maybe you could just link me to a good website or book with Indian cooking?)
davey
Stay tuned! I’ll have the rest of those recipes up by the end of the week. If you want good recs on vegetarian Indian food try “Gujarat nu Jaman” by Devaki Bubbar or “Vegetarian Wonders from Gujarat” by Aroona Reejhsinghani. My mom also says Tarla Dalal is a great Indian cooking author.