In Response to AJBRUN: Chicken Tikka Masala

[sawyen]

Not sure whether this is the correct recipe, but my mates used to make it like this,

you will need,
1. yogurt
2. cumin
3. cinnamon
4. ginger
5. cayenne pepper
6. garlic
7. paprika
8. tomatoes, if you cant be arsed, tomato puree will work as well..
9. single cream should suffice, or better if you can gain access to coconut cream..
10. chillies (depends on you)

also, the usual chicken and bits..

you will need to marinade the chicken in lemon juice, yogurt, cumin, cinnamon, grounded ginger paste, cayenne pepper and *salt* (the amount is strictly subjective). the usual stirring and store them cool for like 1 hr or 2.. best results is to leave them overnight, or do it just before you go off to work..

When prepared for cooking, these can be done using a grill, an oven or just pan fried. The textures differs for each. Simplest is probably oven baked, but you'll probably lose out on too much moisture and making it all hard and flaky when done. Pan fried is a little difficult to achieve the required textures and moist.. most of the time you'll probably end up with meat too wet, or too charred.. but if done right, pan fried usually gives me the best controlled moist and textures.. also, its important to have a big pan, unless you're just cooking for urself.

Prepare another pan, heat it up with a tad of oil, I cant tell you how much as I dont regulate it with spoons. Saute the garlic and peppers and some chillies till its slightly charred to the edges and moisture begins to evap, throw in cumin (ground or by itself), paprika and salt with minutes amount of water (very little just to prevent it from getting too hot). let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Throw in the tomatoes and simmer on very low fire for 30-40 minutes until tomatoes turns into puree like. If you're using puree you need not worry about this, and can proceed to next step fo adding the coconut cream. Allow it to simmer with the cream for about 10 minutes. You can leave it longer for it thicken out, but an easier way to achieve thick textures are to add minutes amount of corn flour already dissolved in cold water.

Finally add the texturised chicken and simmer a little further 5-10 mintues..

SERVE!

Hope that helps guys..