Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken

There are only three secrets to cooking good Tandoori meats, including chicken. The first is

the use of the special clay Tandoor oven, which not many people have in their homes. The second
is the special Tandoori coloring, a rich red color imparted to the meat. But for me, the third secret
is the most important to learn is the special yogurt marinade used to flavor the meat. Here are the
ingredients and method to create delicious Tandoori Chicken at home.
For the Tandoor oven, we can substitute
the barbeque grill or the oven. For the
coloring, you may be able to find special
Tandoori food coloring at a local Indian
grocery store or online. Or you can try
substituting a combination of red and
orange/yellow food coloring until you get
the color you want. Many Tandoori
recipes call for meat tenderizer but I omit
this. I was never able to control its use;
most of the time it would over tenderize
and make the surface (only) of the
chicken mushy. Its omission has no
downside in my opinion since if you cook
the chicken correctly it will be very
tender. There is no substitute for the
marinade which is described below….

Ingredients:

The Chicken:
3-4 pounds (approx) chicken pieces, bone-in. Alternatively, use boneless skinless chicken
breasts cubed for kabobs

For the marinade:
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
2 large fresh garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine
1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped fine
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon ground red chili pepper
1 teaspoon tandoori coloring, or substitute paprika
1/3 cup plain yogurt

Combine well all the ingredients for the marinade and let stand for a few minutes for the

flavors to combine. Be careful with the food coloring since it can stain your fingers.

Remove the skin from the chicken pieces. For a traditional Indian look, slash each piece 2

4 times with a knife to create just ¼ to ½ inch deep slashes. This will give a traditional look plus
allow the marinade to contact more of the chicken.

Add the chicken to the marinade and coat all the pieces. You need to let the chicken

marinate for at least a couple of hours in the refrigerator. It’s ok to let it marinate all day or
overnight. Be sure to stir the chicken a couple of times during this time.

After just a couple of hours, the chicken is ready to cook. You can use a regular oven to

roast the chicken in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until it is just cooked through. It is
very important not to overcook chicken because it gets dry and tough very soon after it is cooked
through. Alternatively, you can grill this chicken on a barbeque grill, basting once or twice with a
light cooking oil like canola oil.

All cooking times are estimations because your oven and barbeque may be much hotter or

colder than mine. Please take care to cook the chicken thoroughly, but not so much as to dry it
out.

If by chance (not likely!) you do not finish all your Tandoori Chicken you can use the

leftovers in a Butter Chicken recipe.

Enjoy!