Tandoori Chicken Recipe

I was busy with my cousin’s good-friend wedding cake over the weekend.

The bride wanted a simple and sweet cake. I have done quite a number of wedding cakes over the past few years, but I still get the jitters every single time. It is always in my head that this cake is for someone’s big day, so nothing should go wrong.

The cake and cupcakes turned out fine and I was quite assured that things are gonna be okay, but nature had its own plans. There was a thunderstorm with heavy rain when I was just going out of the house to deliver the cakes. The cup cake boxes got a little of the shower and I was SUPER worried for the cake. I literally had an umbrella over my cakes as if it was my new born baby. I specifically told my niece, “let me get drenched but nothing should happen to this cake” I wanna cry just thinking about it. *wipes tear* All’s well that ends well. I love happy endings.

Would it be weird to start talking about chicken right after crying? If chicken gives you happy thoughts, it is perfectly fine I guess? So yes, let’s talk about happy things. Chicken = happiness. Chicken = yumminess (Have I just invented a new word?)

When you deep fry chicken with all that breading on the outside, your taste-buds just dance. If there are quite a number of spices in your breading, you tongue does the salsa. I am so lame.  Why does fried food always seems to taste so good? We are talking french fries, fried wings and banana fritters here. There are rare cases where frying does not improve the flavor of food. Sometimes I wonder, could oil be under some evil spell? It’s like some witch witchy have curse it and if people consume a lot of oil, they become like humpty dumpty.

Fried foods hits all the buttons on our taste buds. If you don’t agree, you clearly belong to another planet, a totaaaaally different breed from me.

But not all is gone my dear friends. You do not need 500 ml of oil to enjoy a good chicken dish. This Tandoori Chicken Recipe is delicious and it isn’t even fried. Yup, these beauties not require a swim in the oil. Hail to the oven!

Best of all, it takes just “four” steps to make this awesome dish!

1. Process the ingredients for the marinade.
2. In a bowl, mix in chicken pieces and the marinade.
3. Marinate for a couple of hours or overnight.
4. Grill and enjoy.

Yes, you just marinate it, roast it in the oven and Tadaaa!  These are perfect for the barbie too. I am obviously just outlining the main steps. The in-between steps are just easy peasy.

For those of you who are not familiar with Tandoori Chicken, it is a popular Indian dish that consists of chicken marinated in a mixture of yogurt and spices. Traditionally cooked in high temperatures in a tandoor (clay oven). The yogurt acts as a tenderizer and you get chicken that is juicy and oh-so-yummy. These tasty, delicately spiced, grilled chicken pieces, are best served with slices of lemon beside them to squeeze over and some sliced onions too. Tandoori chicken can also be served with a yogurt raita and a mint chutney.Gosh, I want some, pronto.
Recipes that let you marinade and chuck it in the oven = ♥

If there is one dish that I would choose to represent Indian cuisine, this has to be it.

Tandoori Chicken + flat breads?  Delicious

Tandoori Chicken with Salad? Healthy and just perfect for Skinny Mondays.

Do check out my other Skinny Mondays recipes too!

Tandoori Chicken Recipe

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• Author: Maya Kitchenette
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 50 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1.5kg chicken (I used mixed chicken parts)
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 4 tbsp tandoori masala (They come ready made)
• 0.5 tsp red food coloring
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup mint leaves
• 3 green chills
• 2 tablespoon of finely chopped cilantro (optional)
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 inch piece of ginger

Serve with

• Lemon wedges
• Onion – cut into rings

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Instructions

1. Remove skin from chicken pieces, and cut slits into them lengthwise.
2. Place chicken in a large bowl while you make the marinade.
3. In a food processor, blend all the ingredients, except the food coloring else it might stain your food processor. .
4. Pour the blended ingredients in the bowl consisting the tandoori chicken pieces.
5. Add the coloring,
6. Rub the marinade onto the chicken pieces.
7. Marinate for at least 4 hours, or ideally overnight in the refrigerator.
8. Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius or an outdoor grill. Lightly oil the baking pan/grill.
9. Cook chicken for about 40-50 minutes.
10. Garnish with onions and lemon wedges.
11. Before eating, squeeze the lemon over the chicken pieces.

Notes

This is a perfect recipe for Ramadan as you can make this ahead of time. You can always place the tandoori chicken pieces in several zip-lock bags and freeze them for future use.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 10
• Calories: 329
• Sugar: 2g
• Sodium: 161mg
• Fat: 12g
• Saturated Fat: 4g
• Unsaturated Fat: 7g
• Trans Fat: 0g
• Carbohydrates: 8g
• Fiber: 1g
• Protein: 46g
• Cholesterol: 137mg