Shashlik

[unclefrank]

Well this was more of an experiment to give a tea called Lapsang Souchong well i made my normal Chicken tikka masala sauce about 3-5 tbsp and added it to chicken, peppers, onions and tomatoes and marinated for 5-6 hours, i then placed a tray with one opened teabag of Lapsang Souchong in some boiling water into the bottom of my grill pan then placed a small roasting tin in the grill pan then placed the skewered chicken, tomatoes, peppers like a kebab. Cooked under a hot grill until charred and cooked all over.
This was to find out if this method would work using the tea.

Shashlik.JPG (99.13 KiB) Viewed 8877 times

Shashlik (2).JPG (103.95 KiB) Viewed 8877 times

[goncalo]

Looks very nice UF. I didn't understand what the outcome was of using that (chinese/thai sounding) tea or what you were trying to do exactly?

Shaslik is one of those dishes that I find differs greatly from restaurant to restaurant. I was able to replicate one of my local restaurants with this recipe, but then I went to several other restaurants where their shashlik was nothing but tikka'd pieces with peppers and onions and some mustard oil dressing.

[unclefrank]

It gives the chicken a smoky taste which did come out nicely in the finished dish.

[snoopy]

Looks lovely m8t, I will have a go at this one the weekend,
Cheers.

[goncalo]

That is interesting. Any pictures of the your "oven setup" would be great

[Willyeckerslike]

Looks nice unclefrank. Interesting idea using a teabag, I once had tea smoked chicken in a chinese restaurant and it was lovely and smokey but delicate too. Surprised it works with tikka and I have never had a shashlik so definitely one to try in the near future. Thanks for posting the recipe

[unclefrank]

Will make this again tomorrow so will take some pictures, i have ordered this in a few T/A Restaurants and the smoky taste is something i just can't get right without using a Tandoor. The t-bag is split open and the contents are then mixed with some boiling water.

[Cory Ander]

Have you tried the trick of dropping a hot coal into an egg cup (or similar container) of ghee UF?

[goncalo]

Hmmm...carcinogens!

[unclefrank]

I have CA, saw Reza Mahammad do it on one of his cooking programmes but i found it a little long winded to be honest and the result was alright.
Been meaning to try this Lapsang tea thing for a while, going to be making CTM for the other half and something for me tomorrow using the tea to infuse the chicken.
I will put pictures and recipe/method when i can but i do get rather busy so it might take me a bit to report back.

[unclefrank]

Here's a few photos
One t-bag opened and placed in the grill pan then water added to grill pan with the tea in and some water added to the roasting pan.

[unclefrank]

Chicken Tikka

[unclefrank]

Chicken Tikka cooked, you can see the water from the grill pan has evaporated.

[unclefrank]

Finished dish
Followed CA recipe for Bhuna but replaced the following
added keema when adding tomatoes, onions and green peppers
1 tbsp ketchup and 1/2 tsp lemon juice instead of tomato puree
1 tsp naga chilli
1 tsp methi
adding the naga when adding lemon juice and ketchup
added methi after 2nd ladle base

[unclefrank]

The smoky flavour did come through using a tikka recipe (Blades) but not enough it was very subtle, so next time might add half the tea bag contents to the marinade itself.
When i do it will post pictures.

[Cory Ander]

Great series of photos, UF, the dishes look great!

Can I ask...what is it about " Lapsang Souchong" tea that makes it so special for smoking food?

PS: I've never added keema meat to my other meat dishes. I'll have to try it; I notice you seem to be quite fond of it!

[gav iscon (aka redfrontdoor)]

It has a strong smoky taste and is used for doing tea smoked duck.

[unclefrank]

These really are experimental at the moment just wanted to get a smoky flavour into my chicken to give that Tandoori oven taste.

As for the Keema CA i don't know whether it is added to dishes local to me but every T/A Restaurant i have been in so far, about 5-6 at the moment, they all have this keema taste to their dishes but every one has it's own taste depending which on dish i have ordered.
Can't think who started a thread on here about their curries being too rich, well that's the taste i get in every T/A Restaurant i have ordered from. Very thick but still got some fluidity to the sauce and the taste is rich. Regional thing again.

What i do for keema is from this recipe http://bircurries.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=435
then add about 1 tsp to 1 tbsp of the mixture to a dish.

[goncalo]

Excellent UF, thanks a lot for posting these pictures. Really helps illustrate how you are doing it, which I failed to picture in my head just by the description! Glad it worked out nice. I'll be trying this method hopefully soon.

[unclefrank]

Just an update on the Chicken Tikka smoky taste i am trying to get from using Lapsang Souchung tea, well i used just under half tsp of the tea in Blades marinade then follow recipe. Used it in the Mogul dish and the smoky flavour was excellent.
Give it a go and see what you think experiment first with the amount of tea because everybodies tastes are different.