Why does my tikka always taste like tomato/onion sludge with curry powder in it instead of tikka?
I usually have good luck reproducing restaurant stuff. But This dish is impossible. Store bought shit is also uniquely bad at replicating the restaurant quality sauce, and youtubers don't seem to have the right consistency either.
Because one or more of the following has happened:
1) you used old spices.
2) you didn't use enough spice
3) you didn't simmer the sauce long enough
4) you didn't have any rats in the kitchen.
My missus is Indian and while this isn't a dish she cooks, she's noticed the vast majority of wypipo curry recipes lack neem (without which, they just don't taste right, she says).
I don't know if this is just a Central/South Indian thing or what but she cooks the food on its own with low fat then absolutely smothers that shit in oil or ghee that she's fried the spices in just before serving, so maybe it's a technique issue, too. I've never had tikka from a restaurant but she makes this thing that sounds similar to what you're describing (tomato onion sludge) that she doesn't call tikka and I can tell you that she adds onion twice and tomato three times. She cooks thinly sliced onion down with crushed tomato until it's practically nothing (first time for both) then adds the meat and tomato paste (second addition of tomato) and cooks it a bit then adds water and vegetable stock cube, simmers it a bit and, finally, heats up some ghee and adds spices, aromatics (neem, onion, garlic etc) and chopped tomato (second addition of onion, third of tomato) and stirs it into the pot with the stewed meat.
This is all done in a wok except for the ghee which is done in a tiny ceramic frying pan.
Does that sound like tikka?
Sort of. Basically all curries start with cooking down tomato, onions, and ginger into sludge. The problem is the creaminess balance is never right in wypipo food, including mine. By the time you get to the right consistency the sauce is diluted to shit, and you can't just dump spice in there to fix it.
>and you can't just dump spice in there to fix it.
Maybe that's why she does the whole "frying spices in oil" thing.
You're supposed to bloom a shitload of spice in the fat to capture the aromatics. Preground doesn't compare.
I have the exact issue with OP, my confusion with blooming spices is that you tend to bloom them whole. But then they are coated in oil/ghee and you still need to blitz them so they aren't just whole-ass spices in the dish. What do?
I'm always close, my ex was Indian and we'd always cook together for a couple years, and I practice regularly. Frustrating.
Just to add, I use all of these and have a full stocked cabinet from the Indian grocery store 3min from my place. Mace is another to add to that list that most people don't think of.
These, sorry (black cardamom, fenugreek, hing/asofoetida, curry leaf, mace) as well as whole cardamom (green and black), cumin, coriander, cinnamon...the list goes on. Jesus it's so tiring.
add more cream
Yogurt.
Recipe?
Tikka Masala
Okay, I know the issue. You’re a colossal homosexual.
You are not using fenugreek
This, it's likely missing one of those rarer, less-used spices, like fenugreek (methi), asafoetida (hing), curry leaf, black cardamom (very different from green), ajwain etc.
Gawd.
Let's break it down:
1. Chicken - refers to the meat involved.
2. Tikka - refers to the way it is cooked(more on this below).
3. Masala - refers to the gravy or sauce.
Tikka, like Tandoori, is cooked in a Tandoor, (here in Bongland, Tikka is pieces 'off the bone' and Tandoori is 'one the bone') it's unlikely you will have a Tandoor to cook with but you can use a hot grill and turn frequently, you will also need to marinate your chicken in a Tandoori mix beforehand (find recipe online).
You add the flavoured, grilled chicken to the Masala near the end of cooking the sauce.
Wa La.
Hope this helps.
>Masala - refers to the gravy or sauce.
lol
Masala literally just means "mixture." Like garam masala means "mixed spices" and how Punjabi "wet/fresh masala" is just a mix of various aromatics (kinda like a North Indian soffritto/mirepoix) in water.
Ya dingus.
Without wishing to sound argumentative, in this instance Masala refers to the gravy not a literal translation.
Thank you for your consideration.
Accurate.
You are underestimating the difficulty BIGLY. Chef John and Weismansama are well respected in these parts, and look how fricked up their Tikka looks. Not even close.
add more feces
Do you marinate the chicken in yogurt and spices beforehand?
Yes. I have that bit down. Yogut bath then broil gets that weird texture the chicken has to is where its sort of like... carpet or something. Grainy and soft, with blackened bits.
The problem is the sauce. The sauce is impossible. Home made I can get the texture, and the curry which is actually not overpowering in resteraunt tikka, but there's a hook, something between those two that makes up the savory flavor that just isn't there in homemade.
Also, I'm not really sure how they get this color. If you use that much tumeric it just taste like tumeric chciken.
You need fenugreek, bro
The red is from the kashmiri chili pepper
I found putting cashews in and using methi at the end were the two things that made my Tikka "restaurant quality" the most, put some cashews in the gravy then wait til they get soft and blend them in the sauce, it'll make a huge difference
Probably missing fenugreek (if you've never smelled it, it utterly reeks of the curry smell Indian men give off), and if you're trying to make a British curry house, the base gravy:
%3D
>fenugreek reeks of the curry smell Indian men give off
smells like fake maple syrup to me. are you getting it confused with cumin?
Nah, I use a lot of cumin. I had to seal the fenugreek in a bag in a plastic box to stop my kitchen smelling like there was a sweaty tech support scammer hiding in the cupboard. This is the seeds rather than the leaf though.
weird. are there other types, maybe? curry leaf/neem smells like indian dudes, tho
Fenugreek leaf and seed indeed do smell differently but they cook the same
It's weird
To me fenugreek seed tastes like lawn clippings scraped out of a 2-stroke mower
Once it touches tomato it's delicious, though
>Fenugreek leaf and seed
I know but I don't find either of them to smell like Indians.
Maybe! The only British Indians I know are far too concerned about that sort of thing to actually have any sort of odour other than soap.
Maybe it particularly smells like British Indians. If I think about it I can imagine describing it as maple syrup like instead, but we have a lot more Indians than maple syrup around here.
Do you use fenugreek leaves or the powder?
Whole seeds smashed in a mortar and pestle.
If one doesn't go the crushed seeds route, which would be better, the leaves or powder?
Leaves
Powder actually I think tastes stronger but it's a powder so it will oxidize faster
So leaves if you make it once in a while, powder if you want to smell like Indira Gandhi's thong
I like the way he says, "sal-T!"
CASHEW NUTS
that could be what its missing...
Just remember that that is butter chicken, not tikka masala. Main difference is that butter chicken is pan fried, TM is supposed to be grilled. And I think the sauce is meant to be smoother in butter than TM, but there you go. But that's more of a texture thing than "tastes like at the restaurant" thing which OP was going for.
Also, he refers to kasuri methi (little dried leaves he sprinkles). This is another word for fenugreek, which another anon already spoke about itt. You'd have to buy that at an Indian/Arab grocer or online.
Tikka Masala is a restaurant dish. You have to mix cooked chicken tikka with brown stuff, tomato gravy and cream.
Couldn't you break out the hand blender and make it more paste like instead of gloop?
That's butter chicken not chicken tikka masala
Treat it as a perpetual stool that get's sprinkled with fecal matter and it should get closer to being authentic
Probably didn't simmer long enough, too much water left in the sauce. You're also probably not using enough spices (make garam masala but don't use a bunch, maybe half a teaspoon or a little more for a pot) and you may need to add something like yogurt or sour cream to mix into it to thicken it up and give it a little more flavor and a better texture.
Use your feet to make it
>I usually have good luck reproducing restaurant stuff
Then why do you have a problem with this? It's the same process
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/228293/curry-stand-chicken-tikka-masala-sauce/
i use this recipe as my baseline. i use 2 red onions and half a head of garlic. i fry the onions until they are very soft, more like 20-30 minutes. sometimes i use all breast meat, sometimes all thigh meat, sometimes both. for curry powder i use sun brand, pic related. i use 2-3 tbsp. i add more than the recommended amount of cream and salt, basically until it tastes right.
>help! I literally CANNOT figure out how to mix spices into a bowl of tomato paste
go upstairs and ask your mom or stepdad for help
Keep cooking it. Cook it for hours and hours.
You won't believe me and will probably get angry at me for saying this.
But your restaurant-quality butter chicken / tikka masala is mostly ghee or butter, cream and tomato ketchup.
Literally just Heinz ketchup. That's the secret ingredient.
See also: Chinese restaurant "sweet and sour" sauce
This. As a Pakistani person I honestly don't like most Indian restaurants because it's just a ton of butter/ghee/cream. If you like restaurant food more than your own stuff it might be because you just like a ton of filler.
>doesn't reach the same highs.
I disagree. I hate the heavier oily/cream tasting stuff restaurants put out.
I put up with Indian/Pakistani restaurants when my parents are out of town and I'm really craving some desi food.
>If you like restaurant food more than your own stuff it might be because you just like a ton of filler.
It's always more delicious when you make it at home. If there is a less expensive way to make the recipe in a restaurant, they'll sub in the shortcuts, like less cardamom, dried ginger vs fresh, regular yogurt vs greek whole milk yogurt, oil versus actual cream or butter.
I just think your recipe probably needs upgrading.
ps, fenugreek does indeed mimic a maple flavor.
I don't make tikka at home, I just make yogurt chicken, and it marinates overnight in the fridge, right in the pan. The marinade starts out with lots off whole spices, warmed in oil, then in goes the crushed garlic and ginger off the burner, and then when cooled again, the thick yogurt, and lots of lemon zest and juice. Toss with bone-in chicken in a glass dish, and then move to the oven , or the grill, the following evening. My spices are my favorites, and some garam masala both. If I wanted to "tikka-fy" it, I'd mix in some stewed tomatoes before baking. Literally, just do what you want, up your ginger, up your cardamom, whatever floats your boat until you think it's better than takeout. Time in the marinade is what tenderizes it and moves that ginger and garlic right down to the bone. Double the yogurt, if you want more sauce for your naan.
The problem is restaurant Indian food is essentially junk food loaded with butter/ghee, cream and sometimes sugar which is why its so good. Home cooked Indian food can still be delicious but it doesn't reach the same highs.
I got much better results after learning tadka and using methi, asfoetida and using only whole spices or freshly grinding them.
Oh and also I find store bought garam masala to be total ass, no exceptions. I have never had restaurant Indian curry that tastes like that crap and so I don't know what they're using. I use cape malay curry mix in place of it which seems to work better but ymmv. You could also make your own.
>Home cooked Indian food can still be delicious but it doesn't reach the same highs.
You need better teachers
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