Tandoori chicken is one of the most popular Indian dishes, and arguably the tastiest. It is simply marinated chicken cooked in a tandoor (clay oven). The word “tandoori” comes from the Sanskrit word “tandura”, which means a cylindrical clay oven. The chicken is marinated in yogurt and spices for several hours to overnight. Then it is grilled on skewers or placed on a bed of charcoal for about 40 minutes until done.
Tandoori chicken is usually served with a side of salad, raita, and naan. However, there are many variations to this dish depending on the region it comes from and the chef’s personal preference.
The following are some steps to making tandoori chicken:
1) Make sure you have all the ingredients you need- yogurt, ginger, garlic, chilies etc. Also have oil, salt and pepper ready;
2) Mix the ingredients together in a bowl until they blend into a paste;
3) Take the chicken pieces out of their packaging;
4) Brush the marinade over both sides of each piece of chicken;
5) Place the chicken pieces in a plastic bag and refrigerate for at least four hours
The flavor of tandoori chicken is derived from a marinade of yogurt, ginger, garlic and other spices. The yogurt tenderizes the meat as it cooks and makes it juicy.
Some recipes call for adding food coloring to the marinade, but most Indian cooks avoid this. They believe that food should be prepared as naturally as possible.
Tandoori chicken is traditionally cooked in the tandoor clay oven. The chicken pieces are placed on skewers, which are then threaded onto a spit and roasted vertically over hot coals for about half an hour. If you don’t have access to a tandoor oven, you can cook this dish in any type of oven or under the broiler.
The yogurt marinade is best if allowed to soak into the meat overnight. This gives it plenty of time to tenderize and absorb all its wonderful flavors.
“For best result, marinate the chicken in the masala for at least 4 hours.”
When I first heard this advice, I thought it was crazy. The whole point of tandoori chicken is the bright red, spicy sauce—wouldn’t that all leach out?
I mean, I know how tandoori works; the chicken is supposed to soak up the spiced yogurt marinade and then be cooked over a really hot charcoal fire—the yogurt burns away but the spice stays behind, coating the chicken and getting into every delicious crack and crevice.
Thing is, I usually want my dinner now. And unless you have a way to heat up your charcoal stove just before cooking (a professional tandoori chef would, but I don’t), you need to start with a cold grill. So how could all those spices stick around and coat the chicken?
Turns out there’s a simple answer: If you cook the chicken long enough and hot enough, those spices will stick to your dinner. They’ll get in there so deep that you’ll be able to pick out crispy bits of red-hot charcoal from your teeth later on. This was an incredibly useful thing for me to learn—no more dry or
** 1.Marinate for 2-4 hours at least before cooking. I have let it stay in the fridge for a maximum of 24 hours, but I have never let it sit there longer than that. You could go as long or short as you want depending on how strong you want your flavor to be.
** 2. Use yogurt as your marinade base. It is what gives the most flavor and best tenderizes chicken (which can be tough).
** 3. Add lemon juice to your marinade if you want to “cook” the chicken with out burning it first in a tandoor. This is a matter of personal taste though, since some people prefer their tandoori chicken to be cooked before marinating and others prefer it raw and then cooked only in the tandoor oven.
** 4. Add garlic paste or finely minced garlic to your marinade if you are using yogurt as your base and want maximum flavor. Garlic will help cut through the richness of the yogurt (which otherwise can be rather heavy). Garlic is great with this recipe because you not only get flavor from it, but also from its juices which will drip down onto the meat while it cooks in the tandoori oven, which will
The most common culprits of undercooked tandoori chicken are either using chicken breasts or cooking meat with low fat content. In the former case, it is advisable that you choose chicken thighs instead because they have more fat and thus tend to taste better. In the latter case, use a marinade in order to tenderize the meat.
Tandoori chicken is best cooked on skewers over a charcoal flame but in the absence of one, you can use your oven broiler or grill for making this dish.
For cooking Tandoori Chicken on stove top, you will need a large pot with lid and a long handled spoon for stirring the gravy. Also you will need some kitchen towels for draining excess oil from the cooked chicken.
I am no professional cook but as I want to eat something new and delicious I tried to make it at home. It was a bit hard for me at the start as I got confused between tandoori paste, tandoori masala, tikka masala or chicken masala. In the end I decided to try tandoori chicken recipe and chose this one which seemed easy and quick to make.
Tandoori chicken is a popular Indian meal which is made with chicken or lamb coated in spices and yogurt, cooked in a clay oven called “tandoor” until tender and juicy. It is often served with naan bread or basmati rice. This dish can be easily made at home with some general knowledge of cooking process and ingredients used in it. The only problem that you may face while making this dish is that you might need a clay oven for cooking it but if you are not having one then you can use any other oven, just preheat the oven at high temperature before putting the chicken in it so that it gets cooked quickly.
Tandoori chicken is one of the most popular Indian dishes available today. It has its origins from Mughlai cuisine which originated in North India during the Mughal
I am sure to be asked the best way of making tandoori masala. There are a few important points which I must share with you all before sharing my recipe. I will tell you all about it in the following paragraphs:
1) The chicken must be cleaned especially the intestines and gizzards should be removed properly. The chicken should also be washed properly and then dried. All these things can be done with your hands. The chicken should not be boiled or done in microwave oven, as all the proteins will get destroyed and it will not have the correct texture and taste.
2) The masala which is necessary to apply on the chicken is prepared by mixing together some special spices, roasted onions, tomatoes and lemon juice together. I always prefer to roast my own onions, as it brings out a different flavour altogether. If you want to make quick masala then use roasted store bought onions instead of home made ones.
3) You can either cook the chicken in a clay oven or in an open dish itself for about for 25 minutes at about 170 degree Celsius temperature after applying oil on it and covering it with foil paper. If you want to make it bit crispy then simply increase the temperature but remember don’t cross 120 degree Celsius maximum or else