#oneaday Day 529: Red Curry

I've spent probably the best part of the last couple of decades looking for a red chicken tikka masala.

This might sound like a strange thing to be searching for but it, like so many bizarre and pointless quests, stems from nostalgia. Specifically, in this case, nostalgia for my university days, when getting together with friends for a curry and some video games on the N64 was a frequent occurrence. I used to have red chicken tikka masalas on those occasions, and in recent years I simply haven't been able to find one.

I don't really know what's different about a red chicken tikka masala, but I know it's better than the low-rent butter chicken knockoffs that most local curry houses seem to fob people off with. They don't taste right. And they're yellow. Chicken tikka masala should be red.

I'm not sure how, why and when this started to be a thing. I remember red chicken tikka masala being the default chicken tikka masala back when I was at university, regardless of where we ordered from. Or perhaps all the places on the "student street" that housed all the takeaways we frequented just all happened to do it in the same way, and they're the ones who are all wrong.

Anyway. Tonight I successfully found a red chicken tikka masala, and thus I am very happy. For bonus points and added nostalgia, it is from the takeaway that my friend Sam and I once serenaded at about 2 o' clock in the morning after a night on the piss (and of failing to have any courage whatsoever at Going On The Pull) to the tune of S Club Party.

"Maaaaanziiiiiiilssss… Indian takeawaaaaaay! Maaaaaanziiiiilllls, gonna buuurn your arrssse!"

So how's your lockdown going, everyone? My brain isn't unravelling at all!