The TP Cook Book

Right guys i am going to be gone for 2 weeks to spain and singapore where i hope to pick up some good stuff to add to this thread.. keep up the good work guys. mu daughter is already referring to this page. thanks one and all. back soon i hope with some nice soon.
 
gumbo-67 said:
Right guys i am going to be gone for 2 weeks to spain and singapore where i hope to pick up some good stuff to add to this thread.. keep up the good work guys. mu daughter is already referring to this page. thanks one and all. back soon i hope with some nice soon.
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Have a good couple of weeks, I'll try (again) to put together some of our favourite recipes for this thread.
 
Sonriendo said:
Take freshly caught octopus and batter it around the rocks a bit to help tenderise - now, I live inland a bit and well, the rocks are a bit dusty, so I tend to freeze and defrost it :) But that is how I've seen it done on the coast :lol:


IMG_7821 by Sonriendo, on Flickr

Slice onions, and potatos, tuck a couple of laurel leaves under it's armpits and add a good slosh of beer. Into oven at 180° for about 1/2 an hour per kilo. Keep an eye on it and turn it half way through so it doesn't dry out.


IMG_7826 by Sonriendo, on Flickr

It comes out looking like this.


IMG_7828 by Sonriendo, on Flickr

Chop into pieces and serve with crusty bread


IMG_7831 by Sonriendo, on Flickr

It's also nice omitting the beer and using red wine and tomatoes.
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I personally prefer my octopus grilled but I also prefer other people to do it for me! Now I know the freeze/defrost thing though, next time I catch one (bare hands, grabbing them while free swimming), I'll try one on a barbecue. We don't usually have an oven in the room though, so can't try that delicious sounding recipe you've given us but should we ever rent a proper appartment rather than a room with a 2 ring ob, I'll give it a go. Shame octopuses aren't that easy to find here in supermarkets.
 
Nod said:
I personally prefer my octopus grilled but I also prefer other people to do it for me! Now I know the freeze/defrost thing though, next time I catch one (bare hands, grabbing them while free swimming), I'll try one on a barbecue. We don't usually have an oven in the room though, so can't try that delicious sounding recipe you've given us but should we ever rent a proper appartment rather than a room with a 2 ring ob, I'll give it a go. Shame octopuses aren't that easy to find here in supermarkets.
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Have to admit I thought the battering way of tenderising them has to be a bit hit or miss tbh
 
Does seem to be the way the locals do it on Crete (including the chap I gave one of my catches to - the other was released!) God, they feel slimy and they don't half wriggle!
 
Nod said:
Does seem to be the way the locals do it on Crete (including the chap I gave one of my catches to - the other was released!) God, they feel slimy and they don't half wriggle!
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Christ almighty, you mean the poor thing's not even dead when they smash it around? That's bad. Dark ages bad.
 
Burger experiment for tonight's tea, just over 1kg beef mince, red onions, spring onions, chillis, egg, healthy dose of oregano, mixed herbs, italian herbs, bit chinese spice, basil, and 2 tsp of tomato sauce all mixed together. I'm sure I've forgotten something.

What's your favourite home made burger recipe ?
 
frank said:
Burger experiment for tonight's tea, just over 1kg beef mince, red onions, spring onions, chillis, egg, healthy dose of oregano, mixed herbs, italian herbs, bit chinese spice, basil, and 2 tsp of tomato sauce all mixed together. I'm sure I've forgotten something.

What's your favourite home made burger recipe ?
Click to expand...

Keep it simple is my motto when it comes to burgers, some good quality mince with fine chopped onions, for a kilo of mince it's about 2 slices of bread blitzed to breadcrumbs and an egg. mix until well bound together, add more crumb if too wet.

Make thick burgers and cook them slowly keeping them moist.

I will sometimes add chilli powder (or fresh chilli) and kidneybeans for a chilli burger, but I generally prefer adding any additional flavours as a sauce or sprinkle after cooking.


Forming the burger around a nice round piece of stilton or other blue cheese makes for a nice burger too :)
 
Last edited:
Ice Cream of almost any flavour you like!

Inspired by Nigel Slater, we decided to take advantage of a friend's generosity and to use some of her windfall apples to make some ice cream - apple and almond. Rather than use almonds (ground, flaked or whatever), we decided to use a drop or 2 (OK, a healthy glug!) of Amaretto liqueur to get the flavour, we also added a few (10, I'm told) Amaretti biscuits for texture. For the custard base of the ice cream, we used a tub of Sainsbury's Be Good To Yourself ready made custard. (I'm type II diabetic, so went for the lowest sugar content custard we could find).

Method? First stew and purée some apples, sweeten to taste. Stir some (to taste again) Amaretto into the custard and add stewed apple to taste. Put into freezer safe bowl (we used a tupperware tub) and put in freezer. Remove from freezer every 40-60 minutes and stir with a fork to break up any large ice crystals. Continue until the tub is getting stiff, then crumble the amaretti biscuits into the mix and stir in. (You can add the biccies at any point - the later you do it, the crispier they stay).

Coffee and walnut follows much the same method - first make up some espresso (strong black of any sort will do but espresso is best in our opinion) and let it coolright down. Crush or process the walnut pieces until the pieces are a suitable size (again, to taste). Stir coffee into custard (quantity to taste!) and add walnuts (guess what quantity!) to taste. Freeze and stir as the above recipe.

After buying the few ingredients we didn't have in the cupboard, we then passed the ice cream aisle and spotted mince pie flavoured ice cream - anyone care to guess how I reckon they made it? Yup, simply crumble mince pies into a mixture of custard and flavour of your choice (we make up a special mixture of Brandy, Amaretto, Tia Maria and whatever we've got in the cupboard that suits to make what we call christmas spirit!) and freeze as above.

ANY flavour you think will work probably will - give it a try, maybe using only 1/2 a tub of custard, just in case it doesn't work. Add flavours to taste and suck it and see. s a kid, I used to help Mum make a really delicious butterscotch ice cream but I daren't try that these days due to the diabetes. :(

Happy freezing!
 
ORANGE CHEESECAKE WITH FLAPJACK BASE

Firstly, this was made without a recipe and as such most measurements should be treat as approximate. This made a 9" diameter round spring formed cake tin.


THE BASE:

For the base melt approx 100g of butter in a pan and add 50g of caster sugar, a small handful of both mixed peal, sultanas and 25g of sliced Glace cherries, and stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Then add enough rolled Porridge oats to form a reasonably dry mix. Empty pan into a previously lined cake tin and spread thinly. Bake in a preheated oven at 175 degrees C for approx 10 - 15 mins, until the edges start to brown.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool FULLY.

THE TOPPING:

Once the base has cooled fully, in a large bowl mix 1000g of cream cheese (I like a deep topping, less can be used if you want a thinner top, 500g would be minimum for 9") into this add the zest of 4 large Oranges and 2 tsp of Orange Extract. Mix well and then add enough caster sugar to sweeten the mix to your taste, I used about 125-150g. Once well mixed and your happy with the flavour add this onto the base (still inside the tin) and press down firmly then level the top.

Allow to cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours (longer the better) then enjoy with some cream or ice cream



One tip I picked up a few years ago (cant remember where from) that comes in handy here is that if you're using a sprung cake tin, with a removable base, and the base has (as most do) a recess, then turn the base upside down when assembling the tin. This keeps the base of the cheesecake level and makes it easier to remove from the tin and cut later.
 
Nod said:
Ice Cream of almost any flavour you like!
Click to expand...

Wonderful Nod, Many thanks :thumbs:

Just enjoyed a mince pie style ice cream using the methods you mention. I used a good glug of rum, a few desert spoons of mincemeat and instead of the pastry I added a handful of crushed digestive biscuits at the final stir. In hindsight I've added too many biscuits as the mix doesn't curl as icecream should, but the taste is great!

One less biscuit next time :)

Cheers :thumbs:
 
HUGE cheaty Game soup "recipe"...

Look in cupboard. Remember that soup's all you can eat at the moment. Find can of Baxter's Royal Game soup. Pull tab, empty can into pan, heat gently until piping hot (avoiding boiling), serve and eat.

As I said, HUGE cheat but so much easier than sourcing, prepping and cooking your own. (I have a vague memory of Mum's old Mrs Beaton's recipe for jugged hare which began "First, catch your hare"!)

Andrew, when we made our apple and almond batch, we made the mistake of starting at about 9pm and were so knackered that we had to crash out before 11, so it didn't get stirred often enough - it's a bit hard to scoop! I also left my wife to crush in a couple of amaretti biscuits. I think 10 was about 6 too many. We live and learn though - next time I'll do it myself while she's at work. :)
 
Ha ha Nod, we started ours at about 6:30pm so like wise, it didn't get stirred beyond about 10pm. Still eating it now and it must be said, although difficult to scoop, it tastes great, so once again, Thanks.
 
Nowt wrong with the taste of ours either, just needs to be scooped (well, sliced!) a while before serving to allow some softening...
 
shamelessly stolen from another site.

Once again this year, I’ve had requests for my Vodka Christmas Cake recipe so here goes. Please keep in your files as I am beginning to get tired of typing this up every year! (Made mine this morning!!!!) 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 cup water, 1 tsp. salt , 1 cup brown sugar, Lemon juice, 4 large eggs, Nuts, 1
...bottle Vodka,
2 cups dried fruit.
Sample a cup of Vodka to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the Vodka again to be sure it is of the highest quality then Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar. Beat again. At this point, it is best to make sure the Vodka is still OK. Try another cup just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 eegs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit.
Pick the fruit up off the floor, wash it and put it in the bowl a piece at a time trying to count it. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit getas stuck in the beaterers, just pry it loose with a drewscriver Sample the Vodka to test for tonsisticity. Next, sift 2 cups of salt, or something. Check the Vodka.
Now **** shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window. Finish the Vodka and wipe the counter with the cat.
 
Readers should note - by bottle, Terri means 20 litre Jerry can! :p :naughty:
 
:finger: ! (You'll need to take that elsewhere to see it!
 
OK this is a one for the curry lovers. I have tried for years to do a chicken tikka masala like you get in a restaurant with no luck at all.

A couple of years ago I found this recipe on e-bay I think I paid 50p for a download and its the best 50p I have ever spent. It is the closest to the real thing I have managed, I've given it to a few people and they have all loved it.

It looks quite complicated but it isn't at all its just about doing the prep in advance then you just put it all together.




Indian Restaurant Style Guide to Making Chicken Tikka Masala

The first thing to say is that I believe 100% that my recipe replicates the CTM found in my local Indian restaurants however bear in mind each restaurant’s interpretation of CTM can vary and I do include optionals that I know a lot of restaurants use to tweak the recipe.

Tools for the job
The most important piece of equipment that you must own to reproduce restaurant style curries is a blender, it can be either hand or liquidiser or food processor but you MUST have one of these, without it you cannot achieve the same consistency and texture.

The next most important piece of kit is a good large wok (or even better a karahi if you can get one). This allows the spices to cook evenly as they are fried evenly rather than getting stuck in the corners of a conventional saucepan and burning. One of the key areas of failure is burning the spices, giving a bitter taste to a curry.


Please note all measurements are UK so when I say pint, I mean a UK pint. Teaspoon and tablespoon measures are level unless stated (5ml & 15ml respectively). If you want to convert measurements go to google and do a search for ‘convert uk pint to us pint’ for example.


Chicken Tikka (Serves 4)

This is the recipe for making the chicken part of the dish, it is added pre cooked at a late stage in the recipe for CTM.
The secret to good chicken tikka is in the marinade

1. Mix 4 heaped TBSP of natural yoghurt,
2. 1 Tsp lemon juice with
3. 1 heaped TBSP of Pataks Tandoori paste

(My local Indian grocer supplies a lot of local restaurants and he tells me they all use this, if you can’t get Pataks then any tandoori paste or spices will be fine).

Ever wonder how the Indian restaurants get their CTM that rich red colour, well I’m afraid it is done via the use of food colourings, the same goes for the chicken tikka. If you want the chicken tikka that authentic reddy/orange colour then you can add a pinch each of red and yellow food colouring at this stage to the marinade (if you cant
get powered food colourings using the liquid supercook type ones is fine, one drop of each)

1. Now cut 4 chicken breasts into 6 chunks each and coat in the marinade,
2. this should now be left in the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours and ideally 48. The yoghurt acts as a meat tenderiser.

To cook the chicken tikka an Indian restaurant would use a tandoor, obviously most of us don’t have a tandoor at home but you can use a conventional oven instead. Put the oven to its hottest temperature and cook the chicken at the very top of the oven. You can place the chicken on a grill pan to cook, but personally I like to put it on
skewers and suspend it over a baking tray.

Cooking time varies depending on exactly how hot you can get your oven, the quickest the chicken could cook is ~10 minutes, the longest 15. I suggest you put it in for 10 minutes then take a quick peep; the top of the chicken should just be going slightly black. Test the chicken by cutting a piece in half; it should be white all the way through.


Chicken Tikka Masala (Serves 4)

Without doubt the UK’s most favourite dish, my recipe below comes straight out of an Indian restaurant and I believe it is perfect. Some of the ingredients will surprise you but I can assure you they are all genuinely used in the Indian restaurant recipe.

The first thing to make up is a batch of base curry sauce, this is another Indian restaurant secret, at the start of the day they will make up a huge vat of this sauce and every curry they offer is based on this sauce. The sauce isn’t specific to CTM, for example to do a Madras curry you would fry some ginger and garlic, add a tin of plum tomatoes (no juice), fry for a few minutes more, add about ¾ pint of the base sauce, add 2 tbsp of ground almonds, a few tsp chilli powder and viola.

Anyway I digress, for the base curry sauce you will need the following:

• 2 TBSP butter ghee (not vegetable although you can use that if you can’t get butter ghee)
• 1Kg Mild onions (Spanish red whatever)
• 75g Garlic
• 75g fresh ginger
• 1 tin tomatoes (liquidised)
• 2 TSP turmeric
• 2 TSP paprika
• 1 TSP coriander
• 1 TSP cumin
• 1 TSP tomato puree
• 2 UK pints (1.14 Litres) water

Yep that’s a lot of onions.

1. Chop the onions up roughly and place in a large saucepan,
2. liquidise the ginger and garlic in a little water and add that to the pan,
3. add the remainder of the water and bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for 45 minutes. The onions must be extremely soft.
4. This onion soup must now be thoroughly liquidised until its consistency is extremely smooth; it is this base that gives the Indian restaurant curry its texture and consistency.
5. Mix all 4 of the spices together in a bowl with a little water to make a paste.
6. Now put the ghee in a wok or karahi on a medium heat,
7. add the spice paste and fry for 20 seconds stirring all the time, no longer or they will burn.
8. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree and salt and cook for a further 5 minutes,
9. now add the onion, garlic and ginger mixture and bring back to the boil, simmer now for 20 minutes.

This is the base curry sauce and can now be frozen in batches for future use. About half a pint to a pint is good to make 4 portions depending on how much sauce you like.



Now onto the final step, the Tikka Masala sauce.

• 2 TBSP butter ghee
• ½ - 1 UK pint (570ml) of base curry sauce (I would start with ½ pint and then if you find the dish doesn’t have enough sauce try it with ¼ pint more another time)
• 100g creamed coconut block (hey I never said the dish was healthy!, but you knew that _)
• 2 TBSP ground almonds
• 1 TSP sugar
• 1 TSP Lemon juice
• 1 TBSP Tomato ketchup (yes, this is what they use in an Indian restaurant)
• 175ml (~1/3 UK pint) canned tomato soup (again, yes they do use this as well!, I use Heinz cream of tomato)
• 1 TSP salt
• 1 TSP paprika
• 1 TSP chilli powder
• 1 TSP garam masala
• ½ TSP cumin
• ½ TSP red food colouring (optional but if you want that authentic deep red look you must use food colourings as they do in the restaurants, 1 TSP if using liquid rather than dry)


1. Heat the ghee in a wok or karahi, add the base curry sauce and bring to the boil.
2. Add the salt, paprika, chilli powder and food colouring, continue to heat and stir until the sauce thickens (should be 5-10 minutes).
3. Add the cumin, garam masala, sugar, lemon juice, ground almonds, Ketchup, soup & coconut block (chopped up)
4. cook for a further 2 minutes,
5. add the chicken tikka pieces from above,
6. simmer for a further 5 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with fresh coriander leaf and serve.

Variations:
A lot of CTM recipes call for cream, my feeling is with the soup and coconut block there is no need, however you can add 4 TBSP of single cream at the stage with the soup.
CTM has a very rich coconut flavour, you may want to consider using a whole coconut block (200g) if you feel the sauce isn’t quite as rich and creamy as your local restaurant.

My local restaurant uses tamarind in CTM, if I have it to hand I also add 1 TSP tamarind.

And finally CTM is usually considered a quite mild yet rich dish, if you want it hotter just add 1-3 more TSP of chilli powder.
 
Wow! That CTM recipe looks fantastic. I love cooking Indian food and I've cooked many variations of CTM but have never found one that comes close to the restaurant version. I'll definitely be giving this one a try. Thanks for sharing :)
 
Have to say that i have made a copy of that and it will made this weekend. thank you for sharing and taking the time to post this.
 
Hope you enjoy it, it really is the closest I've come to the restaurant versions I know. I keep meaning to make a big quantity to freeze but I've not managed to keep it long enough to freeze it.
 
I baked some more bread on Wednesday, and decided on the long fermentation method for the first proving - 20 hours in this case. This all started back in the Summer when we stayed in France, and we ate some of the best bread we have ever tasted from a little artisan boulanger in Corcelles en Beaujolais. The crust on their bread could actually do you some damage, and the texture of the crumb was lovely and chewy. After doing a bit of research, I now use the following ingredients and proving/cooking times.

550g strong white bread flour (Lidl 59p 1.5 kilo bag)
100g Allinson's country grain flour
500ml warm water (50/50 boiling and cold)
2tsp sugar
2tsp salt
1 7g packet instant yeast

I mix the water, sugar and yeast in a pyrex bowl, stirit well, then cover and leave it for 20 minutes to activate - you will see a frothy head appearing on the liquid.
I have two large plastic bowls, one of which I grease lightly and put to one side. In the other bowl I mix the flour and salt. Once the water, sugar and yeast has activated, I empty it into the flour mix and then combine thoroughly with a large spoon, finishing off by using one hand to mix and clean the bowl of dough mixture. I then turn the dough out onto a well floured surface and knead for five/ten minutes.
NB. This is a wet mix so you cannot keep kneading it for a long time, because you will have to add more flour and that is not what we want.
Transfer the wet dough mix to the greased bowl, cover with the other bowl, leave in a cool place, and go and enjoy yourself for 20 - 24 hours:)
Assuming that you have not forgotten that you have started to make bread, the next stage is the one which can be a bit messy and intimidating.
When you are making ordinary bread, the mixture is fairly easy to work with and shape on a lightly floured surface. This however is a bit sticky and loose to say the least.
I flour the surface well, and turn the dough out, and then quickly roll it into a long sausage shape, taking care not to press it down too much. I then quickly divide the roll up into six equal parts with a very sharp knife. You may bneed to put a little more flour down to stop the dough sticking, but you do not want to incorporate it into the mix if you can help it.
You then gently roll out the dough, working from the centre out, to create a bulge in the middle and pointy bits at the end.
I use two baking trays, and put three of these Ficelles on each. When they are on the tray, I score them with a knife - you can do one slice right down the middle or several slashes diagonally. During this final proving process, I brush them gently with a little water, and sprinkle poppy seeds or sesame seeds on the top. This second proving usually takes around 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 220C and put a shelf in the middle. Just before placing the first tray of Ficelles in, I half fill a standard loaf tin with cold water and place it in the bottom of the oven (this will create steam and make the crust very crunchy).
I then bake the Ficelles for 25 - 30 minutes and then let them rest on a wire tray.


Before baking

8185388577_e68defe478_b.jpg


After baking

8185388661_7a8aec8c98_b.jpg


We very rarely buy bread nowadays, because this is so easy to make, it is so cheap, and IMO it tastes better than anything available from the supermarkets and most bakeries.;)
 
Really like the salty sweet combo and a nice change to a bacon sandwich on a Saturday morning is sweetcorn pancakes with salty thick smoked bacon on the side and maybe some scrabbled egg if you like. Takes 5 mins to make and easy to memorise. They go down well in this family.

1 can 195g of sweetcorn drained
1 egg
1 table spoon of honey
50g of self raising flour
pinch of salt.

Put the sweetcorn in the food predecessor and blitz. Add the egg, the the honey. Finally the flour and salt.

Heat oil in a pan at medium heat. 2 dessert spoons make a nice size pancake but you can make them the size you want.
 
stormcrow said:
OK this is a one for the curry lovers. I have tried for years to do a chicken tikka masala like you get in a restaurant with no luck at all.

A couple of years ago I found this recipe on e-bay I think I paid 50p for a download and its the best 50p I have ever spent. It is the closest to the real thing I have managed, I've given it to a few people and they have all loved it.

It looks quite complicated but it isn't at all its just about doing the prep in advance then you just put it all together.
Click to expand...


I made this at the weekend. It really is as good as you say! My daughter genuinely thought I'd ordered in a takeaway.

The recipe does make a LOT of the base sauce :)

I've got loads in bags in the freezer now too. Enough for another 3 curries for 4 people!
 
Grendel said:
I made this at the weekend. It really is as good as you say! My daughter genuinely thought I'd ordered in a takeaway.

The recipe does make a LOT of the base sauce :)

I've got loads in bags in the freezer now too. Enough for another 3 curries for 4 people!
Click to expand...

Yes i've tried making many curries for years i can't wait to try it.
 
stormcrow said:
OK this is a one for the curry lovers. I have tried for years to do a chicken tikka masala like you get in a restaurant with no luck at all.

A couple of years ago I found this recipe on e-bay I think I paid 50p for a download and its the best 50p I have ever spent. It is the closest to the real thing I have managed, I've given it to a few people and they have all loved it.

It looks quite complicated but it isn't at all its just about doing the prep in advance then you just put it all together.




Indian Restaurant Style Guide to Making Chicken Tikka Masala

The first thing to say is that I believe 100% that my recipe replicates the CTM found in my local Indian restaurants however bear in mind each restaurant’s interpretation of CTM can vary and I do include optionals that I know a lot of restaurants use to tweak the recipe.

Tools for the job
The most important piece of equipment that you must own to reproduce restaurant style curries is a blender, it can be either hand or liquidiser or food processor but you MUST have one of these, without it you cannot achieve the same consistency and texture.

The next most important piece of kit is a good large wok (or even better a karahi if you can get one). This allows the spices to cook evenly as they are fried evenly rather than getting stuck in the corners of a conventional saucepan and burning. One of the key areas of failure is burning the spices, giving a bitter taste to a curry.


Please note all measurements are UK so when I say pint, I mean a UK pint. Teaspoon and tablespoon measures are level unless stated (5ml & 15ml respectively). If you want to convert measurements go to google and do a search for ‘convert uk pint to us pint’ for example.


Chicken Tikka (Serves 4)

This is the recipe for making the chicken part of the dish, it is added pre cooked at a late stage in the recipe for CTM.
The secret to good chicken tikka is in the marinade

1. Mix 4 heaped TBSP of natural yoghurt,
2. 1 Tsp lemon juice with
3. 1 heaped TBSP of Pataks Tandoori paste

(My local Indian grocer supplies a lot of local restaurants and he tells me they all use this, if you can’t get Pataks then any tandoori paste or spices will be fine).

Ever wonder how the Indian restaurants get their CTM that rich red colour, well I’m afraid it is done via the use of food colourings, the same goes for the chicken tikka. If you want the chicken tikka that authentic reddy/orange colour then you can add a pinch each of red and yellow food colouring at this stage to the marinade (if you cant
get powered food colourings using the liquid supercook type ones is fine, one drop of each)

1. Now cut 4 chicken breasts into 6 chunks each and coat in the marinade,
2. this should now be left in the fridge for a minimum of 24 hours and ideally 48. The yoghurt acts as a meat tenderiser.

To cook the chicken tikka an Indian restaurant would use a tandoor, obviously most of us don’t have a tandoor at home but you can use a conventional oven instead. Put the oven to its hottest temperature and cook the chicken at the very top of the oven. You can place the chicken on a grill pan to cook, but personally I like to put it on
skewers and suspend it over a baking tray.

Cooking time varies depending on exactly how hot you can get your oven, the quickest the chicken could cook is ~10 minutes, the longest 15. I suggest you put it in for 10 minutes then take a quick peep; the top of the chicken should just be going slightly black. Test the chicken by cutting a piece in half; it should be white all the way through.


Chicken Tikka Masala (Serves 4)

Without doubt the UK’s most favourite dish, my recipe below comes straight out of an Indian restaurant and I believe it is perfect. Some of the ingredients will surprise you but I can assure you they are all genuinely used in the Indian restaurant recipe.

The first thing to make up is a batch of base curry sauce, this is another Indian restaurant secret, at the start of the day they will make up a huge vat of this sauce and every curry they offer is based on this sauce. The sauce isn’t specific to CTM, for example to do a Madras curry you would fry some ginger and garlic, add a tin of plum tomatoes (no juice), fry for a few minutes more, add about ¾ pint of the base sauce, add 2 tbsp of ground almonds, a few tsp chilli powder and viola.

Anyway I digress, for the base curry sauce you will need the following:

• 2 TBSP butter ghee (not vegetable although you can use that if you can’t get butter ghee)
• 1Kg Mild onions (Spanish red whatever)
• 75g Garlic
• 75g fresh ginger
• 1 tin tomatoes (liquidised)
• 2 TSP turmeric
• 2 TSP paprika
• 1 TSP coriander
• 1 TSP cumin
• 1 TSP tomato puree
• 2 UK pints (1.14 Litres) water

Yep that’s a lot of onions.

1. Chop the onions up roughly and place in a large saucepan,
2. liquidise the ginger and garlic in a little water and add that to the pan,
3. add the remainder of the water and bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for 45 minutes. The onions must be extremely soft.
4. This onion soup must now be thoroughly liquidised until its consistency is extremely smooth; it is this base that gives the Indian restaurant curry its texture and consistency.
5. Mix all 4 of the spices together in a bowl with a little water to make a paste.
6. Now put the ghee in a wok or karahi on a medium heat,
7. add the spice paste and fry for 20 seconds stirring all the time, no longer or they will burn.
8. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree and salt and cook for a further 5 minutes,
9. now add the onion, garlic and ginger mixture and bring back to the boil, simmer now for 20 minutes.

This is the base curry sauce and can now be frozen in batches for future use. About half a pint to a pint is good to make 4 portions depending on how much sauce you like.



Now onto the final step, the Tikka Masala sauce.

• 2 TBSP butter ghee
• ½ - 1 UK pint (570ml) of base curry sauce (I would start with ½ pint and then if you find the dish doesn’t have enough sauce try it with ¼ pint more another time)
• 100g creamed coconut block (hey I never said the dish was healthy!, but you knew that _)
• 2 TBSP ground almonds
• 1 TSP sugar
• 1 TSP Lemon juice
• 1 TBSP Tomato ketchup (yes, this is what they use in an Indian restaurant)
• 175ml (~1/3 UK pint) canned tomato soup (again, yes they do use this as well!, I use Heinz cream of tomato)
• 1 TSP salt
• 1 TSP paprika
• 1 TSP chilli powder
• 1 TSP garam masala
• ½ TSP cumin
• ½ TSP red food colouring (optional but if you want that authentic deep red look you must use food colourings as they do in the restaurants, 1 TSP if using liquid rather than dry)


1. Heat the ghee in a wok or karahi, add the base curry sauce and bring to the boil.
2. Add the salt, paprika, chilli powder and food colouring, continue to heat and stir until the sauce thickens (should be 5-10 minutes).
3. Add the cumin, garam masala, sugar, lemon juice, ground almonds, Ketchup, soup & coconut block (chopped up)
4. cook for a further 2 minutes,
5. add the chicken tikka pieces from above,
6. simmer for a further 5 minutes.
7. Sprinkle with fresh coriander leaf and serve.

Variations:
A lot of CTM recipes call for cream, my feeling is with the soup and coconut block there is no need, however you can add 4 TBSP of single cream at the stage with the soup.
CTM has a very rich coconut flavour, you may want to consider using a whole coconut block (200g) if you feel the sauce isn’t quite as rich and creamy as your local restaurant.

My local restaurant uses tamarind in CTM, if I have it to hand I also add 1 TSP tamarind.

And finally CTM is usually considered a quite mild yet rich dish, if you want it hotter just add 1-3 more TSP of chilli powder.
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thanks very much...although i've made some yummy "from scratch" curries over the years, none really come close to takeaway versions.

can't wait to try this, although mine will probably also have have a hefty dose of scotch bonnets applied :)
 
Grendel said:
I made this at the weekend. It really is as good as you say! My daughter genuinely thought I'd ordered in a takeaway.

The recipe does make a LOT of the base sauce :)

I've got loads in bags in the freezer now too. Enough for another 3 curries for 4 people!
Click to expand...

I'm pleased it worked out ok for you, I forgot to mention that I did a smaller version of the sauce. However as you say you now have loads in the freezer making it much quicker now to do more curries.
I need to get a batch made soon so I have plenty for over Christmas.
Wonder what Turkey Tikka Massala is like :lol:
 
I'm in the mood for cooking today so the curry could well be on the menu tonight.
 
Ok, this thread looks like it needs reviving. ow about a Tua Pasta Bake:


This is for 2 people so adjust for large numbers accordingly

Ingredients:

Enough dried penne pasta to just less than half fill a deep 8" by 4" oven proof dish
1 red chilli (finely chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 small red onion (finely chopped)
2 tuna steaks
500g white/lasagne sauce
Parmesan Cheese

Preheat the oven to 200c

Cook the pasta until soft. In the meantime, brown the tuna steaks. remove them from the pan and shred into small pieces. I the pan, add a little oil and, when hot, add the cumin, chilli, garlic and onion and fry over until then onions have softened. Add the shredded tuna, season to taste and mix well for about a minute.

Drain the pasta and put it back in the saucepan. Add in the tuna mix and combine. Stir in half the lasagne sauce and then pour the pasta/tuna into the oven proof dish. Pour the rest of the lasagne sauce over the top ankd top with grated parmesan cheese.

Place in the oven for approximately 45 minutes

Serve with crusty bread ad a large glass of red wine.
 
Sounds Good Marc! :thumbs:
 
I Can't eat Fish but looking good for the rest of the family.
 
came across this recipe a few years ago and we use it quite a bit (or variations of).

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

700ml Stock (Chicken or Veg )
50g Butter
1 Onion, finely diced
400g Mushrooms (sliced or diced as preferred - we generally stick to button mushrooms)
300ml Dry White Wine
284ml Double Cream


Heat the butter in pan and add onion and sweat onion for 5 mins until soft, but not coloured.

Turn up the heat, add the mushrooms, then fry for 3 mins until they soften and start to smell wonderful.

Pour over the white wine, raise the heat to maximum and boil rapidly for 6-8 mins until reduced by two-thirds.

Pour Stock into the pan bring back to the boil and reduce again by two-thirds until it is thick and syrupy.

Pour in double cream, bring it to the boil, season as required.


Great poured over chicken
A little mustard powder or Wholegrain Mustard mixed in with the stock gives a nice variation too
 
250ml/9fl oz single cream
1x 397g/14oz tin condensed milk
350ml/12fl oz Irish whiskey
1 tsp Camp coffee essence
3 tsp chocolate sauce
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp almond essence

Sterilise the bottles for the liqueur: wash in very hot water or on the hot cycle of a dishwasher. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Place the bottles on a baking tray and dry in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Leave to cool.
Pour all the ingredients into a blender and blend on high for 30 seconds. Add extra Camp or chocolate to taste.
Pour into sterilised bottles and store in the fridge. (The liqueur will keep for up to two months.) Shake well before using.
 
our first lot was used in hamper presents. just about to make a second batch.
 
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