April 10 Tandoori Chicken

April 10    Tandoori chicken


It's finally warm enough to grill without a parka on! Saturday night we celebrated the opening of the Grilling Season old school with an aged New York Strip, a couple of sausages, some chicken souvlaki with grilled asparagus and little potatoes. Sunday night's dinner was going to be another thing i LOVE on the grill, tandoori chicken. I had to check with my go-to book when I cook Indian, the beautiful Food of India, to refresh my memory since I haven't made tandoori since last summer. I love this book as much for it's beautiful photography as I do for the recipes and can just sit and flip through it from time to time just to look at the pictures.




We had a bit of a moment last night when we all realized that I cannot make tandoori chicken again. I can make tandoori fish and I guess I could use a totally different recipe to make it. I could also make it for lunch or I could give the recipe to The Neighbours and then they can make it but I cannot make it again. Sometimes this no reEATing thing is  harsh. I am just going to have to find new favourite recipes, right?
Right.

Reno is very happy about the weather too

Tandoori Chicken
adapted from a recipe from The Food Of India

1/2 cup greek yogurt
juice of 1 lemon
1 small onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic
2" piece of ginger
1 tbls garam masala
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
4 cardamom pods, squashed
9 skinless chicken thighs, meat scored

small bowl of melted butter or ghee

Put the yogurt and the lemon juice in a bowl. Put the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor to puree OR just chop, chop, chop until it's really finely chopped OR use a pestle and mortar. I use my bullet for this sort of thing because it works perfectly for small amounts of food.

Add the puree to the yogurt and lemon along with the rest of the ingredients right up to the chicken thighs and stir well to combine. Add the chicken thighs and make sure they are completely coated in the marinade. Cover it and put it in the fridge for at least four hours or, preferably, overnight.

If you are grilling the chicken, take the chicken out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you are going to cook it to let it come to room temperature. Prepare your grill the way you usually do. We like to cook over charcoal so we prepare the grill for direct grilling with the grill about 5" above the coals and let the coals heat until they are covered with white ash. Remove the chicken from the marinade and sort of press them to get rid of much of the excess marinade and grill, covered, turning a few times, until the juices run clear. About ten minutes before it's done, brush the chicken with some melted butter or ghee.

If you are baking them in the oven, preheat the oven to 400F. Place the chicken on a wire rack on a baking sheet. Cover with aluminum foil and roast on the top shelf for about 45 minutes until cooked through and the juices run clear. Baste the chicken once with the marinade during that time. Remove the foil after about 30 minutes so they have a good 15 minutes to brown.

Just before you want to serve it, with the chicken still on the rack, brush the ghee or butter over the chicken and put under the broiler for five minutes to blacken the edges a bit like they would on the grill or in a tandoor.


I also made a raita, which is basically just like tatziki to go along with it.
To make just enough for dinner, I mixed about 1 cup of greek yogurt with juice from half a lemon, I grated about 1/4 cup of cucumber and a good pinch of kosher salt. Normally, I would add fresh mint as well but I didn't have any but I like mint in it and would recommend adding it (to taste)