Tandoori and Tikka - Same or Different?

[Stephen Lindsay]

Sad person that I am, that's the question I found myself pondering.

Is the recipe for tandoori and tikka the same? Of course I'm not referring to tandoori chicken (which is on the bone) and chicken or lamb tikka (boneless) pieces, but the mixture in which the meat is marinated.

I don't know why but I have in my own mind that they are essentially the same ingredients though I tend to associate tandoori as having a deep red colour and tikka as being orangy red and this is only cosmetic.

What's the view of others?

[Razor]

Hi Stephen,

I could be wrong but I think we have discussed it before.

I can only offer my slant on things based on my experience.

My local TA's tikka and tandoori, which doesn't have a tandoor by the way, are very different.

As you say, tandoori tends to be red, whereby tikka is yellow to orange but they also taste different.

Their lamb tikka, and tandoori chicken both taste the same.  They have a definate minty note to both of them, so I would suggest that they use the same marinade for these.  However, their chicken tikka, tastes and looks completely different.

Their chicken tikka is a yellowy orange colour, and tastes very savoury, and I can difinately taste methi (fenugreek) in there.

My local TA is Pakistani owned, which may explain the differences I experience but I would suggest that, what they do is typical of the food around this part of Manchester.

Ray

[Stephen Lindsay]

Hi Ray

Yeah I wasn't sure if this had been discussed on the forum before but I knew that good folks like yourself would have some helpful contributions to make. I was just looking at Bruce Edwards' Curry House Cookery article and his recipes are the same for both so maybe that's where the seeds of my own thinking were from.

However your experience is that they are very different which adds to the variety of views. Maybe there is no hard and fast answer? I can see how it might be quite easy to have different recipes, especially if using pre-made spice pastes. Interesting though that your takeway's Lamb Tikka has a different mixture from the Chicken Tikka (and the same as Tandoori Chicken). So in one respect they are the same in in another they are different!

Thanks for this Razor.

[Razor]

Hi Stephen,

I could be wrong but I would say that the marinade for both the lamb tikka and Tandoori chicken, probably lends itself better to longer cooking, it may even contain more oil.

My TA displays their uncooked tikka's in large counter fridges.  Certainly the lamb looks quite glossy compared to the chicken.

They are very different in flavour.

It is a good talking point though this, and I don't think we ever reached a general concensus last time.

Most if not all the cookbooks suggest that it is indeed the same marinade for both.

Ray

[Stephen Lindsay]

I could be wrong but I would say that the marinade for both the lamb tikka and Tandoori chicken, probably lends itself better to longer cooking, it may even contain more oil.

That's a good point and one I hadn't thought of.

[Graeme]

As you say on the bone tandoori (could be a whole bird) off the bone tikka (small bits off the bone) using the same marinade?
I don't blame most bir's for coming up with diffrent recipes for what used to be the same marinade. Even Pataks have tandoori paste and tikka paste and i can only guess this is down to marketing or upselling when your shopping. I would like to think its a way of offering diffrent marinades in a bir on the same plate, something diffrent. I don't mind if my chicken tikka is diffrent to my lamb tikka (i quite like it) but i do think its down to offering a new angle on an old idea, again call it marketing if you want or one up-manship on the bir up the road. Its just like us doing two diffrent marinades for say one of our parties.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Thought I'd add my two penn'orth, particularly as my loose-leaf recipe binder is to hand !  I definitely believe that chicken tikka and tandoori chicken have a noticeable different flavour (and always have done), and my own recipes for each have both elements in common and elements unique to each.  They are as follows :

Ingredient	Chicken tikka	Tandoori chicken
Chicken	4 large breast fillets	4 legs and wings
Curd	500g + 2 tablespoons	500g + 2 tablespoons
Ground red chillies	None	1 teaspoon
Bassar curry masala	3 teaspoons	None
Fresh green chillies	None	3
Green ginger, grated	2/3"	2 tablespoons
Garlic, grated	1 clove	3 cloves
Kala jeera	None	2 teaspoons
Garam masala	None	1 1/2 teaspoons
Salt	3 teaspoons	2 teaspoons
Sugar	2 teaspoons	1 teaspoon
Sherry vinegar	None	2 teaspoons
Groundnut oil	1 dessertspoon	2 tablespoons
Red food colouring	2 drops	2/3 teaspoon
Yellow food colouring	4 drops	1/3 teaspoon

O&OE (and maybe consider substituting mustard oil for some of the groundnut oil).               

** Phil.

[Razor]

Hi Phil,

Interesting that neither of your marinades contain mint, fresh, jarred or otherwise.

Around here, apart from the colour, that's one of the key differences between tikka and tandoori.

I wouldn't mind giving both of them a go!

Ray

[Peripatetic Phil]

Interesting that neither of your marinades contain mint, fresh, jarred or otherwise.

I certainly wouldn't rule out including mint, and I can remember no reason why it doesn't feature in the list of ingredients, particularly as we have a very healthy crop of it on the patio, but looking at the historical record in the spreadsheet (which shews how the recipes have evolved over time) it does not look as if I have ever included it.

** Phil.

[TheFasterCurryMaster]

Interesting Phil.

How many tbsp is 500g curd and what is the Bassar curry masala. Is it just a brand of a curry powder?