for those who are not familiar with "tikka" it is similar to tandori spice but much hotter! tikka masala is more of a "gravy" dish served over plain rice. tikka bbq is much spicier and the flavors are more pungent and can stand up to a service like i did with the smoked onion rice and smoked curried garlic hummus.
first i brined the game hens with salt and sugar. i normally don't use sugar but with the amount of spice i will be using it will go nicely and it gives a great color to the skin. i then make the tikka marinade that has ginger, garlic, lemon and lime juice, olive oil and the tikka spice mix. i then marinated them for 2 hours working the marinade under the skin. i then used a simple trussing method i learned from jacques pepin a long time ago and smoked them for aprx 2 hours with pecan until done.
as for the rice i smoked 1 onion with olive oil and some "seekh kabab" spice.....this stuff is hot and has a cardimon/cumin thing going on. i sauteed basmatti rice with the smoked onions, mushrooms and a little more of the kabab spice and added chicken broth and simmered. the rice picked up the sweetness as well as the smoke from the onions. for me this was the surprise component of the dish......it was very good!
for the hummus......i used a premade one but it was not what you would get from your local grocery store. i had to get it from some dudes that don't speak very good english and can ride a magic carpet! i smoked the garlic with some curry mix and olive oil until it was very soft and dark. i then mashed it up into a paste with the olive oil and salt and added it to the hummus. i never hd a smokey hummus before and this was damn good!
as for the dish, all three components worked very well together and kept their separate identities which sometimes doesn't always happen in middle eastern/indian cooking. i had an indian friend over and he thought it was one of the best dishes he has had here in the states as wall as in india.
first i brined the game hens with salt and sugar. i normally don't use sugar but with the amount of spice i will be using it will go nicely and it gives a great color to the skin. i then make the tikka marinade that has ginger, garlic, lemon and lime juice, olive oil and the tikka spice mix. i then marinated them for 2 hours working the marinade under the skin. i then used a simple trussing method i learned from jacques pepin a long time ago and smoked them for aprx 2 hours with pecan until done.
as for the rice i smoked 1 onion with olive oil and some "seekh kabab" spice.....this stuff is hot and has a cardimon/cumin thing going on. i sauteed basmatti rice with the smoked onions, mushrooms and a little more of the kabab spice and added chicken broth and simmered. the rice picked up the sweetness as well as the smoke from the onions. for me this was the surprise component of the dish......it was very good!
for the hummus......i used a premade one but it was not what you would get from your local grocery store. i had to get it from some dudes that don't speak very good english and can ride a magic carpet! i smoked the garlic with some curry mix and olive oil until it was very soft and dark. i then mashed it up into a paste with the olive oil and salt and added it to the hummus. i never hd a smokey hummus before and this was damn good!
as for the dish, all three components worked very well together and kept their separate identities which sometimes doesn't always happen in middle eastern/indian cooking. i had an indian friend over and he thought it was one of the best dishes he has had here in the states as wall as in india.
