Using Indian commercial Masala Mixes

As I reflect on how the last post ended, I realise that we Trinis are very adventurous people especially when it comes to food.

A Story: Buying Doubles.......

Food choices are reflective of a people regardless of race or religion and I now know, age. I was buying doubles this week when a young lady came out of vehicle and placed an order at the same time. I, along with others, was most surprised when the back door of the vehicle opened and a voice shouted "put pepper, I want pepper!" I looked back immediately and was even more shocked to see that it was a young girl no more than 5 years old. 

Diving in the deep end!

With that in mind I decided to dive right into using Indian spice mixes and to show how simple it is to use regardless of the fact that mix itself is complicated. What I find unique about these masala-s (mixes) is that the user has to add fresh spices as well which makes the taste so fresh that it is difficult to believe that you're using a prepackaged product.

The dish of choice is Chicken Tikka. For the vegetarians, I will substitute paneer to make Paneer Tikka.

MAKING PANEER (COTTAGE CHEESE)

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon milk

1/4 cup lemon jiuce or vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. Heat the milk gently bringing to boil
2. Add lemon juice or vinegar stirring until it has curdled.
3. Remove from heat
4. Let stand until it has fully curdled (add a tsp lemon juice if needed)
5. Strain into a cheese cloth 
6. Gently pull the ends of the cloth together and squeeze to remove excess whey.
7. Open cloth and add salt and again squeeze.
8. Transfer to a colander still in the cloth and place a heavy object on it to further press out the whey.
9. Leave for 1 hour.
10. When cloth is removed, you have cottage cheese with a firm texture.
11. Cut into cubes (large for this recipe).

From here on the instructions are the same: just replace the chicken in the recipe with Paneer.

Chicken Tikka

CHICKEN TIKKA (also PANEER TIKKA)

Ingredients:

I box Shan Tikka Masala

2 kgs Chicken jointed and skinless

1 tbsp garlic paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

8 tbsp lemon juice

75g ghee

(1 kg. paneer cubed, carrots, sweet peppers or veggies of choice and skewers)

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients together except the ghee.(paneer but not the veggies)
2. Marinade for 1 -2 hours
3. Setup the skewers with the veggies and the paneer
4. From here place chicken and/or skewered paneer on a grill and cook till golden and tender.
5. Brush with ghee during cooking.
6. Chicken can also be prepared on skewers.

Paneer Tikka

I know you will enjoy these recipes. Try both even if you're not vegetarian; delicious!!

Feel free to post any comments or suggestions.