Favourite Restaurant Curries - Pat Chapman
Tandoori Spice Powder and Paste
ingredient veg vegan curry
First you need to make a tandoori spice powder. This keeps in a dark cupboard for up to a year. You'd use roughly a tablespoon per person. It's also the spice mixed to make chicken tikka, chicken tikka is just chicken chunks tandoori style. This is taken from Pat Chapman's Favourite Restaurant Curries he in turn took it from the Mogal-e-Azam restaurant in Nottingham. It's very good, especially on steak.

Ingredients
2 oz (50g) ground coriander
2 oz (50g) ground cumin
2 oz (50g) dried garlic powder
2 oz (50g) hot paprika
1 oz (25g) dried ginger powder
1 oz (25g) dried mango powder or similar souring agent if you're making a paste you can use 1 tbsp tamarind
1 oz (25g) dried mint
1 oz (25g) chilli powder (adjust to your heat preferences)
If you like your tandoori chicken red add 1 oz (25g) beetroot powder or red food colour. colouring agent only.
dried coconut could also make a nice addition
Method
If possible, roast the top 2 spices and grind them yourself.
Mix all these ingredients well, and store in an airtight jar. As with most spice mixes, the flavour will increase as it matures, but after a year will go stale.

Tandoori Paste:
Making the powder above into an oil-based paste enhances the mixing of flavours.
9-10 fl oz (300ml) any vinegar
9-10 fl oz (300ml) sunflower or vegetable oil
One full recipe spice mix from above
Mix the spices with the vinegar, and enough water to make a creamy paste. Heat the oil in a wok, and carefully add the paste - it will splatter so watch out.
Stir fry for 5 mins or so, until all the water is cooked out. As it cooks it will eventually make a chup-chup noise if you don't stir, this indicates the water is cooked out.
The idea is just to cook off the raw taste of the spices and bring out their deeper flavours. The colour will darken to a deep red, but don't blacken it or you'll have burnt it and will have to start again.
Take the wok off the heat, if oil rises to the top it's ready. If not add more oil and cook for a few more minutes and retest.
Cool the paste, then bottle in sterilised jamjars. Cap the paste by pouring oil on top, this stops it getting mouldy.

FreeOCR'd from The Modern Balti Cookbook - Pat Chapman
Tandoori Dry Mix Masala
ingredient veg vegan curry
As with all pre-mixed masalas, this has the advantage of maturing during storage. Keep it in the dark in an airtight container, and it will be good for about 12 months. The bright reds and oranges that we associate with restaurant tandooris and tikkas are phoney, requiring chemical colourings. Instead I use beetroot powder and anatto seed powder, whichproduce less vibrant colour. If you want the artificial restaurant look, use 5 g red and 3g sunset yellow food colouring instead. All spoon measures are heaped.

Makes about 7 oz (200g)

Ingredients
30g (2 tablespoons) ground coriander
25g (5 teaspoons) ground cumin
25g (5 teaspoons) garlic powder
25g (5 teaspoons) paprika
20g (4 teaspoons) mango powder
20g (6 teaspoons) dried mint
20g (4 teaspoons) beetroot powder (deep red colouring)
10g (2 teaspoons) anatto seed powder (yellow colouring)
15g (3 teaspoons) chilli powder
10g (2 teaspoons) aromatic salt
Method
Simply mix the ingredients together well, and store.
use as described in the recipes