Rick's better Tikka
Step 2 - Creation

Heat the oil in a wok, until it starts to bubble. Then drop the chicken into the oil and prepare to stir it around quickly so it doesn't burn. Try not the splash the oil when dropping in the meat, as it is very hot.
Searing the spicy flavour into the chicken; GIF 40K

 

 

Quickly, while the chicken cooks, add the rice to the water which should be boiling. Remember that rice expands in cooking; though if you make too much it is a good filler.
(see variation below)

Add the rice; GIF 44K

 

 

Cooking the chicken; GIF 52K
Stir the chicken around, turning as necessary. After about five or six minutes it should be cooked, so you can cut it into smaller pieces. Cutting the chicken is simple. With the edge of your spatula, press through the chicken lump, and wobble the spatula at the bottom to seperate the two pieces. Aim for lumps about half an inch by an inch.
Cutting the chicken; GIF 50K
This is rather hard to explain in writing, so click here for a video sequence showing it (140K AVI, Intel Indeo IV41, 5 seconds).
If you cannot cut the chicken easily, it is not sufficiently cooked.

 

 

Add the sauce; GIF 48K
Now add the sauce from the larger jar and stir it in well. Reduce the heat (under the wok) to a gentle simmer.
Variation: For a less gunky tikka, only add two thirds of the sauce. The remainder can be stored in the refrigerator for a day and is lovely on a baked potato.

Variation: For a mellower taste and melt-in-your-mouth chicken; begin cooking the rice when you add the sauce to the cooked chicken, and simmer the chicken over a very low heat for the twelve or so minutes it takes for the rice to cook.

 

 

Simmering; GIF 44K
The rice should be boiling, stir it occaisionally; and the tikka should be simmering gently, also stir this regularly.
Now is the time to get the plates ready and find the strainer.

The exact cooking time now depends upon the rice, and how you like your rice. It should take about six minutes if you used the original method and like your rice firm; and around fifteen minutes if you used the variation method and like your rice fluffy.
I find a medium rice accompanies this meal well - not too firm so it doesn't detract from the texture of the meat, and not too soft so it is a sludgy mess.


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Copyright © 1999 Richard Murray