Chicken Tikkas, Channa Masala and a superb bread Basket at Passage to India

We started with the Achari Chicken Tikka

Followed by Channa Masala and a delightful mixed bread basket

Over the last week, a few readers have asked me if this blog is primarily meant for French cuisine to which my answer has been - this blog will cover anything interesting that I want to share in the fields of - Food,  fun travel and art, in addition to some real 'food for thought' on occasion.

Today, I'm talking about a recent visit to a well known restaurant in Muscat. Called 'Passage to India',  its one of the best places to go for Indian as well as a fascinating range of Chinese cuisine.As far as we are concerned its one stop away from home and the place that we head to when we want to tuck into a delicious and hearty Indian meal.

Top of that list would have to be the 'Achari Chicken tikka' which is cooked in their  Tandoor . A tandoor is a  clay oven used in cooking and baking. The tandoor is used for cooking in Southern, Central and Western Asia as well as in the Caucasian region.The heat for a tandoor was traditionally generated by a charcoal or wood fire, burning within the tandoor itself, thus exposing the food to live-fire, radiant heat  cooking, as well as  hot-air, convection cooking and smoking by the fat and food juices that drip on to the charcoal. Temperatures in a tandoor can approach 480°C (900°F), and it is common for tandoor ovens to remain lit for long periods to maintain the high cooking temperature. The tandoor design is something of a transitional form between a makeshift earth oven and and the horizontal-plan masonry oven. At Passage to India, they have a really great Tandoor, just look at the pics just below and you can clearly see it. 

The word ‘Tikka’ means bits, pieces or chunks. ‘Chicken Tikka’ is an easy-to-cook dish in which chicken chunks are marinated in special spices and then grilled on skewers. This is one of India's most popular dishes. Chicken Tikka can also be made into Chicken Tikka Masala, a tasty gravy dish.

After  having placed our order, I went into the well lit and designed Tandoor area where I could watch how efficiently and deftly the Chef made the Kababs as well the Rotis after that.Because these are Achari( pickle flavoured tikkas) a small quantity of pickle went into the tikka mix which was then speared onto  a long iron stick which is what goes into the Tandoor. 15 minutes later the tikkas were ready, out, sizzling, smelling absolutely divine and that was when I realized that it is the aroma of tandoori food that goes a very long way in building up a great appetite. Honestly speaking, I wasn't really too hungry at that point having fished a late breakfast, but that aroma- it really did make me hungry!

I've photographed the various steps and you can see how meticulously the platter is prepared. Scroll down and check them out...

The Tikkas  are speared onto an iron stick and go into the iron Tandoor, while the dough is ready for the 'Rotis'

Once the Kababs are ready, the iron is dipped into cold water so that they can be easily removed

Onto the serving plate and lightly brushed with butter

Voila, customer delight!

And  that is my plate, one that I tucked into before heading back to see hoe the Channa Masala and the bread basket was to be made

The Rotis in progress


The dough is already prepared in the shape of balls ( mis-en-place) and all the chef has to do at this point is to roll them out and put them into the Tandoor






In the main Kitchen the Channa masala is being prepared

The Final Touches

What I really appreciated is the final touch, everything had to be 'just so"!

This is what the tray looked like 

  

And it was finally at our table. 

We thoroughly enjoyed that meal and since it was just Avi and myself, we clearly realized that there was no way that we could either finish that meal or order any dessert! So we headed back home, carrying a takeaway  bag with us, happy and content-

Our idea of a really good weekend lunch!..