just to clear few things about indian food as i have lived in western country and had a restaurant, the food which is served in indian restaurant is 0.0001% of indian food and that food in india we dont cook much at home not a staple food leaving few veggie dishes.....
For the Tandoori chicken color, unfortunately many indian street restaurants do add food color cause its easier. The traditional recipe involves heating up a bit of mustard oil (2tbsp), adding a bit of besan (chipea flour) and roasting it in oil till u smell the besan which means its ready. At that point, you take it off the heat and then add 2tbsp atleast of kashmiri chilli powder. The kashmiri chilli in the oil releases a lot of color and it has almost no heat so it won’t increase the spice level. The besan actually helps in reducing the water content of the marinade allowing it to adhere to the chicken.
The other thing is that Josh is using a liquid food coloring. I mostly see red food coloring in powder form for Tandoori chicken. I assume there are fewer preservatives in the powder, but I don't know for sure.
Naan is usually not done at home. We usually don’t have tandoor at home. We make chapati or other breads on griddle or tawa. Most of time yogurt and baking powder is added. Naan literally means bread and there are plenty of varieties of naan.
ur right as a kid we used to have naan in weddings or some restaurant its not made at home but indian restaurant overseas focus on selling naan more...
I'm Iranian and I was going to make the same comment. We don't make naan at home because we don't have a tanoor (tandoor) oven. Roti/chapati is way more common
Instant yeast is not common in India, so baking soda is regularly used to make naans and other things where the dough needs to rise. And authentic tandoors are just big metal drums, caked with clay on the inside. You can make it at home if you want. Could be a nice DIY project. And you can add finely chopped carrot and onion in your raita too. Raita is basically curd + finely chopped vegetables + some mild spices. Also, another great video Chef James.
We don't need to ask him. You are always here for us. Always reply to our every question. Always reply to our comments. Thanks for caring about your subscribers.
One main thing that takes the tandoori chicken to the next level is the basting with butter or ghee. Once the chicken is 50-60% cooked, we start basting it with butter and putting it back in the tandoor. This significantly increases the Smoky tandoor flavor as well as make the crust extra extra delicious
Usually we don't have tandoors here, mostly restaurants and eateries have tandoors, they're usually gas powered and make naans blisteringly fast, like you can see the naan puff up just as fast as you see it in Josh's video. If we do make naans at home, we use the pan method. Also, every thing Josh did while prepping the naan was perfect. When tandoors are usually used, rather than tongs we use a hook and rod type thing. Your idea about using water to stick the naan to the wall is a legit method. On your thoughts about the food coloring, its pretty common with certain foods here, there's a rice based dessert here called firni, that uses orange food color to emulate saffron color, usually the food color is naturally derived, in the best cases. On a side note, people who cook with tandoors often don't usually have a lot of arm hair. Most of Josh's methods were perfect!
Very good to know! Joshua did an excellent job with this! I can imagine that if the flats or houses are small like here in Europe having a tandoor oven would be a bit difficult.
You've been almost single handedly getting me more into cooking with this channel, your commentary not only makes things sound sensical, it really helps me think of dishes as more of a way to achieve a certain flavour rather than a set goal I need to strive for. I used to hate cooking, now I'm still not super comfortable, as I don't have it good on money, but I'm way less terrified of it, and rather excited to explore new things. That being said, I really miss more of your cooking tutorial videos, I'll be looking forward to more of them, as well as colabs and possibly reproducing other chefs' recipes!
@@ChefJamesMakinson yes, I can imagine, but I think you've got something great going on, it shouldn't be hard to find an editor online and I hope you can find someone to handle the camera for the recipes! Keep up the good work!
Also, for making naan bread at home, you don’t need tandoor. Just roll naan and the apply some water at one of the sides of naan, then stick the naan to the other side of pan (not inside) and revolve the pan at a height above the flame, you will get the tandoori effect/ marks on the naan.
Ur right chef,in India yeast is not a common ingredient in making naan bread,some expensive restaurant uses it but mostly they use curd(Greek yogurt),and rest the dough to get that flavour,,and all purpose flour(maida) is enough for naan,no need for bread flour,thanks 👍❤️
@@TheDeathLove yeaah, i said it's not common ingredient in making naan bread,but in India bread and pav are very required things which uses yeast(khameer)
@@ChefJamesMakinson keep in mind that all purpose flour varies by country though so that might affect the gluten too One country’s ap flour could in theory be close to US bread flour
@@ChefJamesMakinson @ChefJamesMakinson Hey chef, people NEVER use color in their homes. In any good restaurant there is NO FOOD COLOR. The primary colors which are red/green/yellow in Indian cooking, we use kashmiri degi chilli (not spicy, deep red colour), cilantro/mint and turmeric respectively. Poor street vendors MIGHT use it but it's NOT USUAL. I as an Indian will never eat at any place that uses color. Nor does any other Indian. We have a literal boat load of spices here we never NEED to use food coloring. AND IN TRADITIONAL METHODS? HELL NO!! There WERE no food colours in ancient India.
Yep, Food colouring is more common than you'd think. It's used in all kinds of recipes and it's a must for Tandoori Chicken. It obviously won't affect the taste but if you want it to look like restaurant made, Food colouring is a must.
Loved this. I cook a lot of Indian food at home and tend to use reduced beet(root) juice for the colour now, rather than food dyes. If I had the money to invest in a garden tandoor I think I'd spend it on a pizza oven which produces similar temperatures and is more flexible for the European cook. A few year ago, staying in a beautiful villa in Provence with a built-in wood fired pizza oven on the patio, I made so many kebabs, pizzas and tikka dishes. I can't imagine a pizza on the side of a tandoor 🙂
Another alternative to tying a knot at the end of the skewer is to place some vegetable like a piece of potato, onion or bell pepper. Does the job, and you've some extra stuff to eat too, they tend to soak up the juices from the chicken and also get charred quite well :)
I'm a combat veteran. I was in the Al Ambar province in late 2006-early 2007. It is one of the most poorest parts of Iraq. The people there literally make their own tandoori from clay, and they cook their Naan on the outside, not the inside. Plus the Naan is the size of an XL pizza crust, but, it is ooooh so soft, chewy, and all around DELICIOUS 😋 I guess what I'm trying to day is, if you want an authentic tandoori make one yourself. But good work Josh, and good review James.
Now I'm craving tandoori chicken 😭 Btw the word "naan" actually means bread, so when you say "naan bread," you're essentially saying "bread bread" 😂 Awesome video and keep up the great work Chef James! 😊
Tandoori chicken gets the red colour from the Kashmiri chilli powder Its really mild and is often used to give colour to gravies and red food colouring is popular in restaurants
First the amount of research and effort that people put into learning foreign cuisine is commendable.. the idea being to make food as authentic as possible .. having said that some small modifications are always acceptable.. even native people do it too .. the aim should be to capture the essence .. second he did really good with recipe i just want to suggest ‘aata ‘
These reaction videos are brilliant. A lot of reaction videos on TH-cam add very little to the content but in stark contrast, your videos are brilliant at clarifying anything I'm unclear of and offering a different professional opinion that can often ensure what I make turns out the way I envisage. Thank you
I’m afraid to say that I’ve heard quite a few times before that most Indian restaurants (at least in the US) do douse their tandoori marinade with red coloring. Perfect presentation above all else I suppose. Don’t know if this is done in India or the UK. One trend I see in the US is a fascinating fusion of Mexican and Indian. I live outside Washington DC and nearby is an extremely popular Mexican restaurant owned by Indian’s . They do excellent traditional Mexican dishes but also things like chicken tikka tacos and guacamole with either (new world) tortillas or with naan, curried meat enchiladas etc. The place is very popular. I know this has nothing to do with the video but I’m just becoming aware of this fusion. I guess I’m curious to know James’s thoughts on “fusion “.
I'd think authentic Mexican foods would fuse well with Indian. There's obviously ingredient differences, but flavor and profile-wise, there's a lot of similarities, too.
“Do not negotiate with yourself” every Asian is happy, I love this video; and it’s nice seeing you react to it. As a Asian he has done so well keeping it authentic or close to it, he made me proud when he made one of the many authentic variations of Filipino adobo. One thing I like is that he at least tries, while Jamie for example doesn’t try if at all; aside from maybe some western dishes.
Chefs like Gordon and Jamie should at least mention when something is their own variation, otherwise people think it's authentic when it's not. But then they sometimes also just produce bad food, even regardless of authenticity. I do believe that they can cook, they must be able after so many years of experience, I just sometimes think that it's the TV format, maybe they aren't even cooking their own recipes in those videos, or maybe there is some extreme time pressure, I don't know.
@@MsJavaWolf i agree with this minus jamie, he's messed up asian food so much that it makes me unhappy whenever he does. he doesn't try, he doesn't try to keep some of the fundamentals, he tries to make things healthy without understanding that some things can be healthy with a small adjustment instead of trying to change everything, some can't be healthy sometimes that you just need to understand its a meal/treat, he doesn't add enough chili or of certain ingredients to a dish that needs it; and more. that green thai chili that he made is deplorable for example, he added mushrooms where it wasn't needed at all; and put (light) coconut milk when it made no sense. overall yes it would be nice to see them say this is my version, but if you ask me who i'd watch; its gordon. i've seen even his mess ups tastier than jamie's mess ups. also if you've seen gordons great escapes, you see him embrace the culture he cooks for later in the episodes; and i haven't seen any of that from jamie.
Almost all of the video recipes for tandoori chicken I've seen tell you to make bone-deep gashes all over the meat (they also emphasize slitting the joints and ligaments), and to use an initial marinade of lime juice, chili powder, and ginger & garlic paste, then the yogurt-spice marinade before cooking
I don't have much to add to the comments already posted here, except for one thing: The tandoori chicken prepared in this video is usually eaten by itself (with the chutneys, raw onions, lime etc.); if you want to have it with naan or rice, it's better to prepare a gravy (which many restaurants would call chicken tandoori masala).
Friend owns an Indian restaurant and he said the powder would be just fine for the color. Never heard of food coloring being used in traditional recipes and was told no household in India would even have the stuff.
In our home, we used to smoke hot mustard oil then remove it from fire and add kashmiri chilli. Basically we are making colouring oil and then add yogurt and other spices. Smoked mustard oil usually intensify the red colour.
5:33 Joshua actually just stuck the naan directly into the tandoor, because it might be the first time for him or the tandoor itself, but actually when the tandoor walls are hot, you actually reduce the temperature to cool the tandoor walls down so that it is easy to pick the breads out of the tandoor. And most prominently saltwater is sprinkled or splashed onto the walls of the tandoor for this non-stickiness.
11:09 "Traditional" here meaning "typical". It's a restaurant dish, not a home dish. Most people don't use it when they do it at home, and really high end places use it very minimally. The cherry red colour is usually indicative of a less-expensive dhaba-style .
Looked good in this one, I also made a face at the pan spray ( lol ). Interestingly, I have seen Indian cooks on YT flip a 10 quart pot upside down over the stove burner, let it get hot, then spray the bottom with a little water, slap the naan on it, flip the pot back over the burner and cook the bread. Makes great naan
I am an Indian, yes, he is doing great, yeast is not a common Indian home ingredient, but high-end - 3-5 star restaurants use it Edit: A tip, while placing the Naan in the tandoor, sprinkle some water on the Naan, so that the Naan gets time to puff up and get a good colour on the outside and not fall off after some time Edit 2: Here, people use 'Kashmiri chilli powder' to add colour to the chicken, but people at local restaurants and to make it cheaper, they do add food colouring
Interesting recipe for raita. I got mine from an episode of Come Dine With Me. They put all the recipes the home cooks have use up on the website and the one week they had an Indian woman hosting. I was drooling at her cooking, her recipe was yoghurt, a pinch of salt, a peeled, deseeded and diced cucumber and mint sauce of all things. 🤷🏻♀️
Not 5000. About 1500. And it wasn't originally ours, though we made it popular and innovated it the way it is today. The biggest credit for tandoor in Indian cuisine goes to the Mughals. Especially Humayun(aur Jehangir, I get confused between the two).
@@deepalibalrajvishwakarma3020 tandoor was invented by people of Indus valley civilization. And it is 5000 year old. Your papa Mughals did nothing Abdul en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoor
@@ayanmandal7470 that's why education is important 🤣. 5000 years ago People of Indus valley civilization created tandoor. 7th fail illiterate. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoor
This so good. Here in India we don't usually make naan a home also the rolling pin is not actually used for naan it's usually done by hand but this is still so good
A little context for the food colouring situation- Typically Kashmiri red chilli powder is used which imparts a vibrant red colour to the dish without adding too much spice. But it can be difficult to find Kashmiri red chilli powder even in various parts of India so red colour is often time used. Context on the yeast- Typically the yogurt we get in the subcontinent has more bacteria and cultures the other types of yogurt so we don't always have to use yeast. Lastly using mustard oil instead of vegetables oil in the marinade will give a more tasty end product.
Hi Chef, i'm from Poland and i was enroled to coocking school. One of my teachers said that for coocking meat most important tool after fire is the thermometer
Tip to get red color instead of food coloring Heat up some oil and add your red chilly powder to the oil, heat will darken the red to almost a brown - when you add yogurt the color would revert back to red from deep red. The way I do it is, heat oil in a pan and add chilly powder, once brown take it off heat and let it cool, add all the spices, ginger garlic etc, mix, add lemon, mix and only in the end add yogurt, this usually gives me great color and the same flavor. Another tip to get street style flavor - add chat masala to your marinade 😉 (now that you've read this you know where exactly that flavor comes from)
It may help to give deep cuts and rub in the marinade. Cold pressed Mustard oil will add to the flavour traditionally it was most used oil in North India, use that instead of vegetable oil. Baste with Ghee (clarified butter)
For the red color, just soak kashmiri red chillies and add little bit of haldi and red chilly powder and blend with mustard oil to make the red chilly paste. It gives both heat and color to the dishes
normally at home people use baking soda and curd for rise. baking soda is the alkaline which gets activated by curd's acidity. Usually we don't always have yeast at home as we don't bake bread at home, flatbread/roti is typically the staple food other than rice. also we don't use food coloring. Kashmiri red chili is mostly used, it is not very spicy and brings a deep red color.
You should also make cuts on the chicken so that the marinade goes in the chicken properly . We also finish the tandoori chicken by brushing it with butter and sprinkling it with some cream cause it can be a little dry and this adds more flavour to it
Honestly, James, I appreciate these types of videos way more than the other formats. I think, you may want to involve yourself a little bit more in the videos (explaining the techniques, for example) but I truly enjoy much more your videos than the previous ones I commented on. Good job!
They actually use the food colouring in many restaurtants across India and it is very common and they also use the same type of colour and the end product is similar in that way
Food coloring is usually used for tandoori chicken. I don't myself, I use extra kashmiri chili powder, which doesn't turn out as red, but it's a nice dark orange color.
The places I eat at in India don't add yeast, but there is enough wild yeast in the environment, and in the flour to not need it - especially when dough is made in the morning and service starts at lunchtime.
food coloring is common but we personally avoid it at home, we do not get the same color and that is okay, it is just the color, we hate the synthetic shit lol that aside, honestly a 10/10 for this man, the effort he put in, especially to bring them big ass tandoor lol that is pure dedication to the arts! this is a combination of a bunch of my fav foods so it was a treat to watch, along with your added knowledge which makes the whole video very fun to watch! Thank you Chef James!
Ideally to provide colour, one can medium heat 100 ml of mustard oil, and add kashmiri red chilli powder to the oil, and pour that oil into the curd mixture. Remember heat the mustard oil just enough that when you add chilli powder it doesn't start cooking.
Commercially, food coloring is used to make it stand out and pop from the other kebabs, but at home, the color major comes from Kashmiri Red chili powder mixed in oil/ghee.
I wouldn't say it's difficult to get yeast here in India. I've bought it so many times from my local grocery store and online, so that's not the case. But, we generally don't use yeast for fermentation, as the curd/yoghurt helps with that. Or as chef ranveer said, there's always baking soda+powder.
Food colouring is kind of rare for tandoori chicken because you would still get a good red/orange colour chicken from kashmiri lap mirch, which is a very mild spice but has very very strong colour it provided the dish
My great grandma and her husband started several diners as they moved about the US. She claimed their pies and cakes were always the best. My Great grandma never wrote how she made these things. Luckily, my granny ( her oldest child) wrote everything down. I remember the intro to her recipe book said she always used Gold Medal flour, not because it was the best, but because it was consistent. She invited folks to use whatever product they wanted, but know that it won't come out the same :P Unlike many, she gladly would share any recipe that turned out well. Unfortunately, she never bothered to write her Butterscotch cream pie recipe until after her tastes had changed. After her seventies, that pie became butterscotch syrup with a meringue. :(
Great video, great comments. Funny that tandoori chicken was a must back in th 80's in France and now you can hardly find tandoori paste in supermarkets. I would still love to eat it.
In Brazil we usually use "Colorau", which is a natural red food coloring made of the seeds of a plant called Urucum. It's not actually red, it's more of super intense carotene color. If you use little the food will be a pretty orange color, if you use a lot it turns more red. It does have a slight bitter, nutmeg-esque flavor tho.
We don't use colour we use Kashmiri red chilli powder because Kashmiri red chilli powder give the colour not spicy and the normal red chilli powder give only the spicy and some colour We also brush butter on it when cooking
About the food colouring part. Now mostly street food is made with ti give it a bright vibrant colours to look good. But in traditional coocking Kashmiri red chilli powder is used to give dishes colours. I hope that helps, and sorry if there's any mistakes in my english. 😂
I saw this video go out and did not see it until today because I wanted to really pay attention, I think Joshua gained a smile from uncle Ranveer, this looks absolutely gorgeous... I am not surprised by the coloring, as it is very similar to carne al pastor, also colored also charred, there's something about painting meat red like a flaming hot cheeto that makes it look as great as it tastes.
For all non-Indians out there (and for the Indians who get confused abroad because of the quirks of Indian English), whenever we talk about Limes/Lemons in Indian food, we mean Limes... but yellow, ripe Limes. Green Limes are not ok, Yellow Lemons are not ok. Mix the juice of the two for an approximation, if you can't get ripe limes.
Thank you for pointing out that you and other YT creators are not only outnumbered but are entitled to a life of your own and google has been a thing for generations. I approve.
The curd sauce is called Raita and you can add finely diced onion into it also, the naan is removed from the tandoor not with bare hands but with an iron rod bent at the end, so you don't burn your hands or forearms. Naan is never round it is an elongated oval in shape. For tandoori chicken always make deep cuts on it so that the spices enter the inside of the meat.
The 12" Cast Iron Lodge frying pan is the way to go! No need to nitpick on the Naan! P.S. The rice cooker is the way to go! Mine gets used every other day. Instant Pots also have a rice cooker function, but I prefer to use my dedicated unit!
Modern rice cookers can be used as a multi cooker for baking, steaming, etc. And they are much cheaper and easier to clean than other kitchen appliances so I can argue that this is a must have in an average/small kitchen even if you just cook rice once or twice a month.
On a side note, when u r making bottom knot to hold the chicken pieces. Some ppl uses an Onion as a stopper. The tandoor grilling that onion will also give a flavour to our chicken. (Or so I've heard) If possible, pls try and do let us know if that adds a flavour or not!!
I lived in India for about a year. In India they remove the Naan using two sticks. One stick on the outside then one behind to gently pry it off. Lifting it out held between the two sticks. Those guys are SO fast. When they stick the Naan their arm in there less than a second. At busy times they often have 3 or 4 Naans baking at a time in a single Tandoor.
Also, leavening in South Asia is achieved by *fermentation with yogurt* which introduces *lactobacillus* , rather than by yeast. And, yes, lactobacillus is a lesser known (at least outside of the sub-continent) fermenting/leavening agent.
Yes food colouring is widely common for street food style chicken tandoori but there few restaurants that don't use them colour may seem dull but doesn't effects the taste
It was interesting to read the comments on the proper way of cooking Tandoori chicken. It's good to see Chef James having so much fun watching Joshua. This would be a great way for James to destress... pop on Joshua's videos and laugh.
We use joghurt or curd for naan or tandoori breads as in india finding yeast in home difficult. Also for color little saffron and deseeded kashmiri chili paste work always. As Kashmiri chili cooks get sweeter and release more color like bedagi chili in ghee rost receipes.
To answer your question, Indian restaurants in India and abroad normally do use food colouring to get that rich colour on Tandoori chicken. Some people use it at home as well. An alternative would be Kashmiri red chilli powder. Great reaction chef as always, always learn from your tips and expert opinions 😊
The alternate to food coloring is using kashmir chilly something similar to paprika ( soft on heat and heavy on color and flavor ) but it really doesn't add the much color. So anything you see or associate with the red color of tandoori chicken is most likely going to be artificially colored
I think by "traditional" Joshua meant "the way most Indian restaurants do it" and they do use food coloring, most of them use plant based organic food coloring (except really cheap road side stalls). However, quite a few places do use proper chili powder, there are red chilis that come from Rajasthan that have a deep red color I think they're called Mathania Chillies, that chili is used in Chicken Ghee Roast // Laal Maans (Red Meat), proper Kashmiri Chillies are also used in Kashmir with recipes like Rogan Josh that have deep red color but not as spicy as they look
Yes chef, if it comes to the restaurant then they use food colouring as it's easy and cheap. But if we make it at home then we usually use two types of chilli power one is degi mirch powder that's gives the red colour and another is kashmiri chilli powerd that adds the spice. And in place of vegetables oil we use mustard oil that adds a sharpness to the marinade.
In the green chutney one should replace peanuts with coconut chunks- it mixes well with mint etc. - The kashmiri red chillie is used to add colour and aroma in addition to the generic red chillie. - Food colouring at most is used in indo-Chinese dishes like gobi-machurian. Holds true from usual restaurants @5-10€ per person.
Well the Kashmiri chilli powder he used is kinda like paprika (which gives a bright red colour with little heat) but nowadays alongside kashmiri chilli powder, restaurants do use food colouring in tandoori chicken. So its a widespread practice in India and Pakistan ig but not exactly traditional at the same time. This is because ingredients like food colouring only became easily available to Indian consumers last decade. Ig restaurants might have had access but the average joe found it very difficult to find these ingredients, untill quite recently. I'm Indian, I love Bbqs, I own a tandoor and tbh Joshua got it right. Also yeast as an ingredient was difficult to come across, say about 10 years ago (I live in a city close to Delhi) but now its easy to find in most urban areas. For use in levend breads like naan. The use of Yogurt or Dahi as we call it , is not uncommon.
Add chilli to the oil(mustard oil preferably) for the colour... marinate chicken in it first... later add the curd and other spices and keep that for hour or two atleast... Then bake it using tandoor...
The food coloring reminds me recently Brian Tsao's Pakistani friend Fatima was making Byriani for Epicurious channel and she also used food coloring, mentioning that it's commonly used to give it color instead of expensive saffron.
Most tandoor oven's made in india are makeshift steel cylinder that is used for commercial cylinder container that is coated with clay and other material inside .
In India we don't use yeast because it's only readily available. Baking soda/powder is our go-to and I am pretty sure even restaurants don't use yeast out here. As for tandoori chicken, there's a secret ingredient not too many people know about. It's basically dried papaya skin grounded into powder. What it does is keep the chicken moist and you can cook for longer and still have rich, succulent meat. Otherwise use food coloring and get it all red so that you just cook it till it's done and not have dry tandoori chicken.
Food coloring is a must. Everyone does it. From Big hotels to road side dhabas. It's a must. I only have an issue with Josh's video, is that he should have cut straight lines on the chicken prior marinating it.
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Absolutely love your style of speaking and voice!
just to clear few things about indian food as i have lived in western country and had a restaurant, the food which is served in indian restaurant is 0.0001% of indian food and that food in india we dont cook much at home not a staple food leaving few veggie dishes.....
Add kasmiri chilli powder to oil mix it and then add other ingredients. Then u don't need food color.
0:56 We can really tell that you are impress with Joshua getting a tandoor cause you normally only speaks in a mono tone.
For the Tandoori chicken color, unfortunately many indian street restaurants do add food color cause its easier. The traditional recipe involves heating up a bit of mustard oil (2tbsp), adding a bit of besan (chipea flour) and roasting it in oil till u smell the besan which means its ready. At that point, you take it off the heat and then add 2tbsp atleast of kashmiri chilli powder. The kashmiri chilli in the oil releases a lot of color and it has almost no heat so it won’t increase the spice level. The besan actually helps in reducing the water content of the marinade allowing it to adhere to the chicken.
that's interesting, thanks for sharing this information
Spot on. The kasoori methi should also go in at this stage.
Great tip! Thank you. I am definitely not adding red food coloring to my food.
A lot of street food in India add so much color that it stains your fingers and nails like heena.
The other thing is that Josh is using a liquid food coloring. I mostly see red food coloring in powder form for Tandoori chicken. I assume there are fewer preservatives in the powder, but I don't know for sure.
Naan is usually not done at home. We usually don’t have tandoor at home. We make chapati or other breads on griddle or tawa. Most of time yogurt and baking powder is added. Naan literally means bread and there are plenty of varieties of naan.
thank you for the explanation!
ur right as a kid we used to have naan in weddings or some restaurant its not made at home but indian restaurant overseas focus on selling naan more...
I'm Iranian and I was going to make the same comment. We don't make naan at home because we don't have a tanoor (tandoor) oven. Roti/chapati is way more common
Instant yeast is not common in India, so baking soda is regularly used to make naans and other things where the dough needs to rise. And authentic tandoors are just big metal drums, caked with clay on the inside. You can make it at home if you want. Could be a nice DIY project.
And you can add finely chopped carrot and onion in your raita too. Raita is basically curd + finely chopped vegetables + some mild spices.
Also, another great video Chef James.
Thank you so much!! :)
And if you cover the Clay walls with Salt water , they are smooth and easier to clean.
😂😂😂😂people in western countries call curd as yoghurt, they dont understand curd
@@PAPA.PARDESI curd and yoghurt are completely different right! Curd is on the sour side and jogurt is more neutral.
@@donutcream4944 no both same
We don't need to ask him. You are always here for us. Always reply to our every question. Always reply to our comments. Thanks for caring about your subscribers.
So nice of you!
One main thing that takes the tandoori chicken to the next level is the basting with butter or ghee.
Once the chicken is 50-60% cooked, we start basting it with butter and putting it back in the tandoor. This significantly increases the Smoky tandoor flavor as well as make the crust extra extra delicious
Usually we don't have tandoors here, mostly restaurants and eateries have tandoors, they're usually gas powered and make naans blisteringly fast, like you can see the naan puff up just as fast as you see it in Josh's video.
If we do make naans at home, we use the pan method.
Also, every thing Josh did while prepping the naan was perfect. When tandoors are usually used, rather than tongs we use a hook and rod type thing. Your idea about using water to stick the naan to the wall is a legit method. On your thoughts about the food coloring, its pretty common with certain foods here, there's a rice based dessert here called firni, that uses orange food color to emulate saffron color, usually the food color is naturally derived, in the best cases. On a side note, people who cook with tandoors often don't usually have a lot of arm hair.
Most of Josh's methods were perfect!
Very good to know! Joshua did an excellent job with this! I can imagine that if the flats or houses are small like here in Europe having a tandoor oven would be a bit difficult.
@@ChefJamesMakinson just a pet peeve of mine but please stop saying naan bread, naan is bread and its like saying chai tea
@@ChefJamesMakinsonWell not rlly, only in metropolitan areas.
@@cdhax I understand but naan is not a common word in English and many don't know what it is
@@ChefJamesMakinson well it's like muffin and Baguette but no one adds bread after those
You've been almost single handedly getting me more into cooking with this channel, your commentary not only makes things sound sensical, it really helps me think of dishes as more of a way to achieve a certain flavour rather than a set goal I need to strive for. I used to hate cooking, now I'm still not super comfortable, as I don't have it good on money, but I'm way less terrified of it, and rather excited to explore new things.
That being said, I really miss more of your cooking tutorial videos, I'll be looking forward to more of them, as well as colabs and possibly reproducing other chefs' recipes!
I'm so glad to hear that! I will make more recipes but I need to get some help with making videos. It is a lot more work than I thought.
@@ChefJamesMakinson yes, I can imagine, but I think you've got something great going on, it shouldn't be hard to find an editor online and I hope you can find someone to handle the camera for the recipes! Keep up the good work!
Also, for making naan bread at home, you don’t need tandoor. Just roll naan and the apply some water at one of the sides of naan, then stick the naan to the other side of pan (not inside) and revolve the pan at a height above the flame, you will get the tandoori effect/ marks on the naan.
Ur right chef,in India yeast is not a common ingredient in making naan bread,some expensive restaurant uses it but mostly they use curd(Greek yogurt),and rest the dough to get that flavour,,and all purpose flour(maida) is enough for naan,no need for bread flour,thanks 👍❤️
Thank you! :)
I will say, yeast is not very hard to find in a town or city in India though. Most grocery store have dry yeast or sometimes active yeast
@@TheDeathLove yeaah, i said it's not common ingredient in making naan bread,but in India bread and pav are very required things which uses yeast(khameer)
@@ChefJamesMakinson keep in mind that all purpose flour varies by country though so that might affect the gluten too
One country’s ap flour could in theory be close to US bread flour
@@ChefJamesMakinson as ive used local AP and Indian AP for naan and there was a noticeable difference even in raw product
It's always nice to see you reacting to a well executed dish!
Thank you 😋 I prefer good videos instead of bad ones! haha
@@ChefJamesMakinson why so weak! 🤣
@@ChefJamesMakinson me also
@@ChefJamesMakinson @ChefJamesMakinson Hey chef, people NEVER use color in their homes. In any good restaurant there is NO FOOD COLOR. The primary colors which are red/green/yellow in Indian cooking, we use kashmiri degi chilli (not spicy, deep red colour), cilantro/mint and turmeric respectively. Poor street vendors MIGHT use it but it's NOT USUAL. I as an Indian will never eat at any place that uses color. Nor does any other Indian. We have a literal boat load of spices here we never NEED to use food coloring. AND IN TRADITIONAL METHODS? HELL NO!! There WERE no food colours in ancient India.
I can now rest in peace knowing my message has reached it's intended recipient
Yep, Food colouring is more common than you'd think. It's used in all kinds of recipes and it's a must for Tandoori Chicken. It obviously won't affect the taste but if you want it to look like restaurant made, Food colouring is a must.
Loved this. I cook a lot of Indian food at home and tend to use reduced beet(root) juice for the colour now, rather than food dyes. If I had the money to invest in a garden tandoor I think I'd spend it on a pizza oven which produces similar temperatures and is more flexible for the European cook. A few year ago, staying in a beautiful villa in Provence with a built-in wood fired pizza oven on the patio, I made so many kebabs, pizzas and tikka dishes. I can't imagine a pizza on the side of a tandoor 🙂
beets are a good option there are many other veggies what we use to get more color for sauces and whatnot so we don't have to use color dye
You can also use ratanjot
It adds a deep red color to the dish
Another alternative to tying a knot at the end of the skewer is to place some vegetable like a piece of potato, onion or bell pepper. Does the job, and you've some extra stuff to eat too, they tend to soak up the juices from the chicken and also get charred quite well :)
I'm a combat veteran. I was in the Al Ambar province in late 2006-early 2007. It is one of the most poorest parts of Iraq. The people there literally make their own tandoori from clay, and they cook their Naan on the outside, not the inside. Plus the Naan is the size of an XL pizza crust, but, it is ooooh so soft, chewy, and all around DELICIOUS 😋 I guess what I'm trying to day is, if you want an authentic tandoori make one yourself. But good work Josh, and good review James.
Thank you for your service! and that is very interesting!
Tandoori chicken, butter chicken and dal makhni all three dishes are created by Mr Kundan Lal Gujral from Moti Mahal restaurant of Delhi (1950s).
Now I'm craving tandoori chicken 😭 Btw the word "naan" actually means bread, so when you say "naan bread," you're essentially saying "bread bread" 😂 Awesome video and keep up the great work Chef James! 😊
Thank you Jeruel! haha yes some people say it like that as naan is not an English word.
we do the same with chai tea
well Chai tea comes knocking🤣
"Panko breadcrumbs" is the one that drives me up the wall
@@Tinil0 That one is probably to differentiate it because Panko isn't made the same as normal bread.
Tandoori chicken gets the red colour from the Kashmiri chilli powder
Its really mild and is often used to give colour to gravies
and red food colouring is popular in restaurants
First the amount of research and effort that people put into learning foreign cuisine is commendable.. the idea being to make food as authentic as possible .. having said that some small modifications are always acceptable.. even native people do it too .. the aim should be to capture the essence .. second he did really good with recipe i just want to suggest ‘aata ‘
These reaction videos are brilliant. A lot of reaction videos on TH-cam add very little to the content but in stark contrast, your videos are brilliant at clarifying anything I'm unclear of and offering a different professional opinion that can often ensure what I make turns out the way I envisage. Thank you
Glad you like them!
I’m afraid to say that I’ve heard quite a few times before that most Indian restaurants (at least in the US) do douse their tandoori marinade with red coloring. Perfect presentation above all else I suppose. Don’t know if this is done in India or the UK. One trend I see in the US is a fascinating fusion of Mexican and Indian. I live outside Washington DC and nearby is an extremely popular Mexican restaurant owned by Indian’s . They do excellent traditional Mexican dishes but also things like chicken tikka tacos and guacamole with either (new world) tortillas or with naan, curried meat enchiladas etc. The place is very popular. I know this has nothing to do with the video but I’m just becoming aware of this fusion. I guess I’m curious to know James’s thoughts on “fusion “.
Fusion can work if you test and see what marries well together. A lot of Michelin places here have some bizarre combinations that work!
I'd think authentic Mexican foods would fuse well with Indian. There's obviously ingredient differences, but flavor and profile-wise, there's a lot of similarities, too.
“Do not negotiate with yourself” every Asian is happy, I love this video; and it’s nice seeing you react to it. As a Asian he has done so well keeping it authentic or close to it, he made me proud when he made one of the many authentic variations of Filipino adobo. One thing I like is that he at least tries, while Jamie for example doesn’t try if at all; aside from maybe some western dishes.
Chefs like Gordon and Jamie should at least mention when something is their own variation, otherwise people think it's authentic when it's not. But then they sometimes also just produce bad food, even regardless of authenticity. I do believe that they can cook, they must be able after so many years of experience, I just sometimes think that it's the TV format, maybe they aren't even cooking their own recipes in those videos, or maybe there is some extreme time pressure, I don't know.
@@MsJavaWolf i agree with this minus jamie, he's messed up asian food so much that it makes me unhappy whenever he does. he doesn't try, he doesn't try to keep some of the fundamentals, he tries to make things healthy without understanding that some things can be healthy with a small adjustment instead of trying to change everything, some can't be healthy sometimes that you just need to understand its a meal/treat, he doesn't add enough chili or of certain ingredients to a dish that needs it; and more. that green thai chili that he made is deplorable for example, he added mushrooms where it wasn't needed at all; and put (light) coconut milk when it made no sense. overall yes it would be nice to see them say this is my version, but if you ask me who i'd watch; its gordon. i've seen even his mess ups tastier than jamie's mess ups. also if you've seen gordons great escapes, you see him embrace the culture he cooks for later in the episodes; and i haven't seen any of that from jamie.
You are spot on about the naan pillow, one of the many reasons I love this channel
Thank you!
What makes this channel different from other food channels is that, it is very educational.
Almost all of the video recipes for tandoori chicken I've seen tell you to make bone-deep gashes all over the meat (they also emphasize slitting the joints and ligaments), and to use an initial marinade of lime juice, chili powder, and ginger & garlic paste, then the yogurt-spice marinade before cooking
God bless you, Chef James. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, you too! :)
I don't have much to add to the comments already posted here, except for one thing: The tandoori chicken prepared in this video is usually eaten by itself (with the chutneys, raw onions, lime etc.); if you want to have it with naan or rice, it's better to prepare a gravy (which many restaurants would call chicken tandoori masala).
Thank you!
Friend owns an Indian restaurant and he said the powder would be just fine for the color. Never heard of food coloring being used in traditional recipes and was told no household in India would even have the stuff.
Good to know!
ya thats true we just use spices to give colour like kashmiri red chilli powder which is not really hot and give a nice red colour
@@kartikroy3532 I tried to colour with sandal wood i read it was in the original tandoori chicken recipe
@@1MADS1 yea u can do that too there many different versions
In our home, we used to smoke hot mustard oil then remove it from fire and add kashmiri chilli.
Basically we are making colouring oil and then add yogurt and other spices. Smoked mustard oil usually intensify the red colour.
Nice to see your channel growing so well and you are getting even better with the presentation, too! :)
Thank you very much!
5:33 Joshua actually just stuck the naan directly into the tandoor, because it might be the first time for him or the tandoor itself, but actually when the tandoor walls are hot, you actually reduce the temperature to cool the tandoor walls down so that it is easy to pick the breads out of the tandoor. And most prominently saltwater is sprinkled or splashed onto the walls of the tandoor for this non-stickiness.
very interesting! Thank you fo the explanation!
11:09 "Traditional" here meaning "typical". It's a restaurant dish, not a home dish.
Most people don't use it when they do it at home, and really high end places use it very minimally.
The cherry red colour is usually indicative of a less-expensive dhaba-style .
Looked good in this one, I also made a face at the pan spray ( lol ). Interestingly, I have seen Indian cooks on YT flip a 10 quart pot upside down over the stove burner, let it get hot, then spray the bottom with a little water, slap the naan on it, flip the pot back over the burner and cook the bread. Makes great naan
Oh wow! haha 😂
I'm a simply person, I see chef makinson, I click and watch. Thanks for the video
Thank you! :)
I am an Indian, yes, he is doing great, yeast is not a common Indian home ingredient, but high-end - 3-5 star restaurants use it
Edit: A tip, while placing the Naan in the tandoor, sprinkle some water on the Naan, so that the Naan gets time to puff up and get a good colour on the outside and not fall off after some time
Edit 2: Here, people use 'Kashmiri chilli powder' to add colour to the chicken, but people at local restaurants and to make it cheaper, they do add food colouring
Good to know! thank you!
Interesting recipe for raita. I got mine from an episode of Come Dine With Me. They put all the recipes the home cooks have use up on the website and the one week they had an Indian woman hosting. I was drooling at her cooking, her recipe was yoghurt, a pinch of salt, a peeled, deseeded and diced cucumber and mint sauce of all things. 🤷🏻♀️
Did you know that Tandoori is a 5000 year old ancient Indian way of cooking. And tandoor is world's oldest oven
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoor
I'm sure it is
Not 5000. About 1500. And it wasn't originally ours, though we made it popular and innovated it the way it is today. The biggest credit for tandoor in Indian cuisine goes to the Mughals. Especially Humayun(aur Jehangir, I get confused between the two).
@@deepalibalrajvishwakarma3020 tandoor was invented by people of Indus valley civilization. And it is 5000 year old. Your papa Mughals did nothing Abdul
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoor
1st of all it's not an Indian way , it's a Afghan/Persian oven .
& Secondly, its someway around 1500 years old not 5000 years 🤣
@@ayanmandal7470 that's why education is important 🤣. 5000 years ago People of Indus valley civilization created tandoor. 7th fail illiterate.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandoor
I make naan in my BBQ grill on a thick pizza stone. I use the BBQ because if gives the naan the wood cooked flavor I love.
This so good. Here in India we don't usually make naan a home also the rolling pin is not actually used for naan it's usually done by hand but this is still so good
Besides Friday being the end of the workweek, it's also my Chef James night! Your videos are always entertaining and informative. Bravo, Chef!
Thank you so much!
A little context for the food colouring situation-
Typically Kashmiri red chilli powder is used which imparts a vibrant red colour to the dish without adding too much spice. But it can be difficult to find Kashmiri red chilli powder even in various parts of India so red colour is often time used.
Context on the yeast-
Typically the yogurt we get in the subcontinent has more bacteria and cultures the other types of yogurt so we don't always have to use yeast.
Lastly using mustard oil instead of vegetables oil in the marinade will give a more tasty end product.
Thank you!
@@ChefJamesMakinson you are most welcome.
I love cooking at home. You’re explanations are great. Huge thumbs up and please keep making these
Thank you! Will do!
Hi Chef, i'm from Poland and i was enroled to coocking school. One of my teachers said that for coocking meat most important tool after fire is the thermometer
Tip to get red color instead of food coloring
Heat up some oil and add your red chilly powder to the oil, heat will darken the red to almost a brown - when you add yogurt the color would revert back to red from deep red.
The way I do it is, heat oil in a pan and add chilly powder, once brown take it off heat and let it cool, add all the spices, ginger garlic etc, mix, add lemon, mix and only in the end add yogurt, this usually gives me great color and the same flavor. Another tip to get street style flavor - add chat masala to your marinade 😉 (now that you've read this you know where exactly that flavor comes from)
Ah, that makes total sense that it will turn to red from brown after the yogurt is added in! Thank you! And the tip about the chat masala too!!
Joshua is insane. The good kind of insane 😂 you’ve become so very expressive lately(that English accent bit) - I’m digging it!
🤣
There is no food colouring needed for the process. The kashmiri chilly powder itself makes the tandoori chicken bright red.
That's what I thought!
In india use of food colouring is common in restaurants but not for home cooking. I prefer to use Kashmiri red chilly powder to give it the colour
Funny enough, both Makinson and Weissman are two of my fav chefs on TH-cam.
😊
It may help to give deep cuts and rub in the marinade. Cold pressed Mustard oil will add to the flavour traditionally it was most used oil in North India, use that instead of vegetable oil. Baste with Ghee (clarified butter)
For the red color, just soak kashmiri red chillies and add little bit of haldi and red chilly powder and blend with mustard oil to make the red chilly paste. It gives both heat and color to the dishes
normally at home people use baking soda and curd for rise. baking soda is the alkaline which gets activated by curd's acidity. Usually we don't always have yeast at home as we don't bake bread at home, flatbread/roti is typically the staple food other than rice.
also we don't use food coloring. Kashmiri red chili is mostly used, it is not very spicy and brings a deep red color.
You should also make cuts on the chicken so that the marinade goes in the chicken properly . We also finish the tandoori chicken by brushing it with butter and sprinkling it with some cream cause it can be a little dry and this adds more flavour to it
Honestly, James, I appreciate these types of videos way more than the other formats. I think, you may want to involve yourself a little bit more in the videos (explaining the techniques, for example) but I truly enjoy much more your videos than the previous ones I commented on. Good job!
Thank you! I try but it depends on what they are making or explain in the video to start with as it is not always easy.
Armature tip. I USE THOSE Black paper Binder clamps to the skewers to hold stuff from sliding
They actually use the food colouring in many restaurtants across India and it is very common and they also use the same type of colour and the end product is similar in that way
Food coloring is usually used for tandoori chicken. I don't myself, I use extra kashmiri chili powder, which doesn't turn out as red, but it's a nice dark orange color.
I do this chicken in air fryer quite often. Super tasty, super easy to cook.
The places I eat at in India don't add yeast, but there is enough wild yeast in the environment, and in the flour to not need it - especially when dough is made in the morning and service starts at lunchtime.
food coloring is common but we personally avoid it at home, we do not get the same color and that is okay, it is just the color, we hate the synthetic shit lol that aside, honestly a 10/10 for this man, the effort he put in, especially to bring them big ass tandoor lol that is pure dedication to the arts! this is a combination of a bunch of my fav foods so it was a treat to watch, along with your added knowledge which makes the whole video very fun to watch! Thank you Chef James!
Ideally to provide colour, one can medium heat 100 ml of mustard oil, and add kashmiri red chilli powder to the oil, and pour that oil into the curd mixture. Remember heat the mustard oil just enough that when you add chilli powder it doesn't start cooking.
Commercially, food coloring is used to make it stand out and pop from the other kebabs, but at home, the color major comes from Kashmiri Red chili powder mixed in oil/ghee.
I wouldn't say it's difficult to get yeast here in India. I've bought it so many times from my local grocery store and online, so that's not the case. But, we generally don't use yeast for fermentation, as the curd/yoghurt helps with that. Or as chef ranveer said, there's always baking soda+powder.
Food colouring is kind of rare for tandoori chicken because you would still get a good red/orange colour chicken from kashmiri lap mirch, which is a very mild spice but has very very strong colour it provided the dish
My great grandma and her husband started several diners as they moved about the US. She claimed their pies and cakes were always the best. My Great grandma never wrote how she made these things. Luckily, my granny ( her oldest child) wrote everything down. I remember the intro to her recipe book said she always used Gold Medal flour, not because it was the best, but because it was consistent. She invited folks to use whatever product they wanted, but know that it won't come out the same :P Unlike many, she gladly would share any recipe that turned out well. Unfortunately, she never bothered to write her Butterscotch cream pie recipe until after her tastes had changed. After her seventies, that pie became butterscotch syrup with a meringue. :(
"If the dough's saying no! just give it a break" . . . today's maximum James moment . . . that look to camera . . . charming.
😂
There is an Indian Program "Tyohaar ki thhali' in Discovery... It's means food of festivals
Great video as always. You can also brush the chicken pieces with the clarified butter/ghee while roasting it in tandoor to make it more juicy.
Great tip!
And in the chicken they don't use food colouring they use kashmiri or deghi mircha(a type of chilli powder),which gives a vibrant red colour,
Great video, great comments. Funny that tandoori chicken was a must back in th 80's in France and now you can hardly find tandoori paste in supermarkets. I would still love to eat it.
In Brazil we usually use "Colorau", which is a natural red food coloring made of the seeds of a plant called Urucum. It's not actually red, it's more of super intense carotene color. If you use little the food will be a pretty orange color, if you use a lot it turns more red. It does have a slight bitter, nutmeg-esque flavor tho.
it would fit just perfectly for this recipe
very interesting!
We don't use colour we use Kashmiri red chilli powder because Kashmiri red chilli powder give the colour not spicy and the normal red chilli powder give only the spicy and some colour
We also brush butter on it when cooking
About the food colouring part. Now mostly street food is made with ti give it a bright vibrant colours to look good. But in traditional coocking Kashmiri red chilli powder is used to give dishes colours. I hope that helps, and sorry if there's any mistakes in my english. 😂
I saw this video go out and did not see it until today because I wanted to really pay attention, I think Joshua gained a smile from uncle Ranveer, this looks absolutely gorgeous... I am not surprised by the coloring, as it is very similar to carne al pastor, also colored also charred, there's something about painting meat red like a flaming hot cheeto that makes it look as great as it tastes.
For all non-Indians out there (and for the Indians who get confused abroad because of the quirks of Indian English), whenever we talk about Limes/Lemons in Indian food, we mean Limes... but yellow, ripe Limes.
Green Limes are not ok, Yellow Lemons are not ok. Mix the juice of the two for an approximation, if you can't get ripe limes.
We use kashmiri red chilli which when authentic is not spicy and gives red colour graciously
Thank you for pointing out that you and other YT creators are not only outnumbered but are entitled to a life of your own and google has been a thing for generations. I approve.
😂
The curd sauce is called Raita and you can add finely diced onion into it also, the naan is removed from the tandoor not with bare hands but with an iron rod bent at the end, so you don't burn your hands or forearms. Naan is never round it is an elongated oval in shape. For tandoori chicken always make deep cuts on it so that the spices enter the inside of the meat.
😉
The 12" Cast Iron Lodge frying pan is the way to go! No need to nitpick on the Naan!
P.S. The rice cooker is the way to go! Mine gets used every other day.
Instant Pots also have a rice cooker function, but I prefer to use my dedicated unit!
Modern rice cookers can be used as a multi cooker for baking, steaming, etc. And they are much cheaper and easier to clean than other kitchen appliances so I can argue that this is a must have in an average/small kitchen even if you just cook rice once or twice a month.
A bit of food coloring is indeed used traditionally for adding colour to the marinade
On a side note, when u r making bottom knot to hold the chicken pieces. Some ppl uses an Onion as a stopper.
The tandoor grilling that onion will also give a flavour to our chicken. (Or so I've heard)
If possible, pls try and do let us know if that adds a flavour or not!!
I lived in India for about a year. In India they remove the Naan using two sticks. One stick on the outside then one behind to gently pry it off. Lifting it out held between the two sticks. Those guys are SO fast. When they stick the Naan their arm in there less than a second. At busy times they often have 3 or 4 Naans baking at a time in a single Tandoor.
Also, leavening in South Asia is achieved by *fermentation with yogurt* which introduces *lactobacillus* , rather than by yeast. And, yes, lactobacillus is a lesser known (at least outside of the sub-continent) fermenting/leavening agent.
Yes food colouring is widely common for street food style chicken tandoori but there few restaurants that don't use them colour may seem dull but doesn't effects the taste
It was interesting to read the comments on the proper way of cooking Tandoori chicken. It's good to see Chef James having so much fun watching Joshua. This would be a great way for James to destress... pop on Joshua's videos and laugh.
I agree! :)
Your face when he said he bought a tandoor. priceless.
We use joghurt or curd for naan or tandoori breads as in india finding yeast in home difficult. Also for color little saffron and deseeded kashmiri chili paste work always. As Kashmiri chili cooks get sweeter and release more color like bedagi chili in ghee rost receipes.
I'm not a cook but in India we use Kashmiri chilli powder for red colour which is not spicy at all.
To answer your question, Indian restaurants in India and abroad normally do use food colouring to get that rich colour on Tandoori chicken. Some people use it at home as well. An alternative would be Kashmiri red chilli powder.
Great reaction chef as always, always learn from your tips and expert opinions 😊
Thank you!
The alternate to food coloring is using kashmir chilly something similar to paprika ( soft on heat and heavy on color and flavor ) but it really doesn't add the much color.
So anything you see or associate with the red color of tandoori chicken is most likely going to be artificially colored
I think by "traditional" Joshua meant "the way most Indian restaurants do it" and they do use food coloring, most of them use plant based organic food coloring (except really cheap road side stalls).
However, quite a few places do use proper chili powder, there are red chilis that come from Rajasthan that have a deep red color I think they're called Mathania Chillies, that chili is used in Chicken Ghee Roast // Laal Maans (Red Meat), proper Kashmiri Chillies are also used in Kashmir with recipes like Rogan Josh that have deep red color but not as spicy as they look
That's a good point
Yes chef, if it comes to the restaurant then they use food colouring as it's easy and cheap.
But if we make it at home then we usually use two types of chilli power one is degi mirch powder that's gives the red colour and another is kashmiri chilli powerd that adds the spice. And in place of vegetables oil we use mustard oil that adds a sharpness to the marinade.
We use mustard oil and Kashmiri red chilli powder to get the best red color on it.
In the green chutney one should replace peanuts with coconut chunks- it mixes well with mint etc.
- The kashmiri red chillie is used to add colour and aroma in addition to the generic red chillie.
- Food colouring at most is used in indo-Chinese dishes like gobi-machurian. Holds true from usual restaurants @5-10€ per person.
Well the Kashmiri chilli powder he used is kinda like paprika (which gives a bright red colour with little heat) but nowadays alongside kashmiri chilli powder, restaurants do use food colouring in tandoori chicken. So its a widespread practice in India and Pakistan ig but not exactly traditional at the same time. This is because ingredients like food colouring only became easily available to Indian consumers last decade. Ig restaurants might have had access but the average joe found it very difficult to find these ingredients, untill quite recently. I'm Indian, I love Bbqs, I own a tandoor and tbh Joshua got it right. Also yeast as an ingredient was difficult to come across, say about 10 years ago (I live in a city close to Delhi) but now its easy to find in most urban areas. For use in levend breads like naan. The use of Yogurt or Dahi as we call it , is not uncommon.
Add chilli to the oil(mustard oil preferably) for the colour... marinate chicken in it first... later add the curd and other spices and keep that for hour or two atleast... Then bake it using tandoor...
The food coloring reminds me recently Brian Tsao's Pakistani friend Fatima was making Byriani for Epicurious channel and she also used food coloring, mentioning that it's commonly used to give it color instead of expensive saffron.
Very interesting! I will have to see that video!
Most tandoor oven's made in india are makeshift steel cylinder that is used for commercial cylinder container that is coated with clay and other material inside .
In India we don't use yeast because it's only readily available. Baking soda/powder is our go-to and I am pretty sure even restaurants don't use yeast out here. As for tandoori chicken, there's a secret ingredient not too many people know about. It's basically dried papaya skin grounded into powder. What it does is keep the chicken moist and you can cook for longer and still have rich, succulent meat. Otherwise use food coloring and get it all red so that you just cook it till it's done and not have dry tandoori chicken.
Food coloring is a must. Everyone does it. From Big hotels to road side dhabas. It's a must.
I only have an issue with Josh's video, is that he should have cut straight lines on the chicken prior marinating it.