Topic: A complete novice.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Will search here for a Tikka Masala one I think. 

I think (but I may be wrong) that CTM is perhaps a tad ambitious for a first dish, mainly because you have to master two quite distinct styles : the tandoori/tikka side, and the sauce side.  I would be inclined to recommend something simpler to start off with, maybe just a Chicken Madras or similar.  What do you think ?

** Phil.

[Razor]

Phil,

Good point you make.  CTM is a dish that can easily go wrong.  The beauty of Dipuraja's CTM is that, it really requires very little skill, as it a "bung it all in" type of method, plus, he has videos to demonstrate each process.

Ray

[Peripatetic Phil]

The beauty of Dipuraja's CTM is that, it really requires very little skill, as it a "bung it all in" type of method, plus, he has videos to demonstrate each process.

Ray, I must be missing something (probably looked in the wrong place), but looking under Main dishes / Tandoori the first reference I find to Dipuraja's CTM is from Cory Ander, who writes :

From: dipuraja1:

To make tikka massala you need 1cheff spoon of vagtable oil,3tablespoon of almond powder,2tablespoon of coconut powder,1tablespoon of sugar,cheff spoon of massala sauce,then add small pieces of chicken tikka or meat of your choice,6 cheff spoon of base gravy mix togther then cook for 4-5mins on high gas mark to finish off your massala add 1 tablespoon of single cream.

So Dip seems to assume that one already has the chicken tikka prepared, unless I am missing something.

** Phil.

[Razor]

Hi Phil,

The beauty of Dipuraja's CTM is that, it really requires very little skill, as it a "bung it all in" type of method, plus, he has videos to demonstrate each process.

Ray, I must be missing something.

Dip seems to assume that one already has the chicken tikka prepared, unless I am missing something.

** Phil.

No, you are quite correct, he will assume that you have your tikka pieces ready. 

When these Dipuraja videos first appeared on cr0, they were done in a way, that each recipe was stepped i.e;  Chicken Tikka, followed by Masala Sauce, followed by CTM, if that makes sense?

Don't get me wrong, they are not "high end" TA Fayre but they are very simple to make.  I'm not a fan of the "bung all in and boil" method but it does work for his CTM and Kormas.

Ray

[joffy]

This is beginning to sound complicated! 

[Razor]

This is beginning to sound complicated! 

Hi Joffy,

No, it's not complicated as such but this is BIR (British Indian Restaurant) style cooking.  For obvious reasons, restaurants have to prepare and precook a lot of different recipes during the day, so that they can turn a dish out in 5 mins or so during service.

My advice would be this; don't try to cook your base, precooked chicken/meat and your final dish, all on the same day.  Your sense of smell and taste will be shot to pieces after a good few hours in the kitchen and your final verdict on your end dish will be dissapointment.

Follow these steps and you will be fine

1st day, make your base
2nd day, precook your meats, including tikka.
3rd day, make your spice mix/mixed powder/curry masala
3rd day, make your curry.

Few tips, always make plenty of base and precooked meats.  I always do enough for 10 TA size portions and freeze them in them "pour and store" type bags.  When I want a curry quick, I just pop the bags in a bowl of hot water and I'm but minutes away from a restaurant standard curry.

It's not complicated so don't be put off by what you read.  If you need any help whatsoever, just give me the nod, and I'll do all that I can to help.

Ray