Thursday, September 11, 2008

Tandoori Chicken

This is to round up our Indian dinner we had the other night. As mentioned in the bhajia entry, our favorite Indian restaurant used to make very delicious moist tender Tandoori Chicken, but it has been hit and miss lately. We were told that there is a new chef joining the team, yet we sorta find it as very odd that all other dishes' quality remain the same, except the Tandoori Chicken! Oh well..it's not like we can't live without it ya know?

My quick history with Tandoori Chicken - well..would never thought of making it until I met Vik. That said, he is not at all an expert of Tandoori either. He just happen to have cravings for it once a while. One fine day when we were still dating, he decided that he'd make me Tandoori Chicken. Of all things he could have made, he had to pick not at all a 'beginner' recipe. I was somewhat terrified. Cooking is just not his forte. I still remember the second week after we just met, he and his best friend decided to cook and invited some friends over. At the time, I assumed they are pretty comfortable with cooking. It was until I got there and heard all these whispers in kitchen 'Hm...do you think this chicken is cooked?' 'I don't know..does it look like it?' 'Should we cut it and check?' 'Oh ewh..it is absolutely not done' OH MY GOODNESS!! Therefore, my panic when he said he'd made me Tandoori Chicken.

To give him some credit, he was smart enough to buy those instant mix. Yet as first timer, he just randomly picked one brand...how do I say this ... it was quite memorable, to say the least. We ate at the stoop of my apartment. His effort and thought made up for weird 'did not even look like tandoori chicken' Tandoori Chicken. It was hilarious - we got such a good laugh over it.

To prevent history repeats itself, here we go:

What:
- about 6 of any skinless cuts of chicken (we both prefer thighs, but I often just mix them up - whatever there is in fridge.) I use 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs and 1 half breast, cut to 2 piece, rub quickly with lime juice.
- 1/2 cup of yogurt
- 1 small onions, quartered
- 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 inches ginger, minced
- 1 tbsp garam masala
- 1/4 tbsp turmeric
- 2 tbsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp hot chili powder
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1/2 tbsp cumin powder
- 2 pods cardamom

How:
- Whisk all the spices in yogurt together, including onions, garlic and ginger.
- Put chicken pieces in ziploc bag, pour the marinade on it. Zip up and 'knead' the bag to mix up chicken and yogurt mixture thoroughly.
- Place ziploc bag in fridge for overnight. Try to at least marinate it for 6 hours.
- Bake chicken covered with foil in 375 oven, for about 20 - 30 minutes.
- Uncovered and put it under broil to get the nice char on chicken. It's not like we can just buy a Tandoor from Williams-Sonoma, right? :)
- Squeeze more lemon juice on top of chicken before serving.
To get the familiar red of Tandoori Chicken, besides red food coloring, there are few other options: saffron thread or annatto seeds; which extract is used for cheese and butter coloring, I believe. Or, in my case, I just sprinkle some more paprika on top of chicken right before baking.

12 comments:

Deeba PAB said...

Hi Cecil. Thanks for stopping by. I think we have something in common...an overflowing bookmarked binder LOL! Would be great to hear from you. BTW, the tandoori chicken looks finger licking GOOD! Cheers Deeba

The Mediocre Cook said...

I would have to say that the Tandoori Chicken and Aloo Gobi from the last post both look amazing. I haven't had good Indian cuisine in a long while and you are making me seriously crave it. I'm just not sure my culinary abilities are up to making it myself though :)

Prudy said...

I have everything I need to make this, so I'm copying it right now and adding it to next week's menu.

Esi said...

I love tandoori chicken!! When I get around to getting all the spices I will have to try this.

CECIL said...

Passionate: Thanks for visiting! I need to do something with my binder :)

Mediocre Cook: I am so sure that you will be just fine! No fancy technique needed.

Prudy: Yay!!!! Can't wait!

Esi: I am sure you'll enjoy it once you try making it.

Anonymous said...

I have always wanted to make Tandoori chicken, but just never have. This looks amazing!

Dewi said...

Cecil,
This looks so enak! I must try to make it myself.

Natalie Que said...

Thanks for your nice comments, I love your blog. Everything looks SO tasty!

I just read your profile page, what are you talking about ya crazy?! -your photos are breathtaking!!

tigerfish said...

I love tandoori chicken and have not had it for a while now.

Dee said...

Cecil, I always use mix for my tandoori chicken too *hangs head in shame*.

Thanks for the recipe :) I was wondering about the colouring so I appreciate the tip. I'm going to try the saffron - but won't that just make it yellow? I've never heard of annatto seeds but am very intrigued.

CECIL said...

Kristen: Thanks!!

Elra: Makasih! I am looking forward to make some bread, very much inspired by you!

Hot Garlic: Thank you for such nice comments! As far as photos, I am getting a little bit better - you just haven't seen my old posts and oohh..*shrudder*.

Dee: I thought about that too when I was being told about saffron!! But then I found out that there is some grade of saffron that'd give darker orangey color - though it is still not red. But really, I have never used saffron for Tandoori. Just too expensive!! The only time I spring it for is when making paella.

Apples and Butter said...

Looks delicious. I love Tandoori Chicken and your recipe makes it sound pretty doable at home. The boyfriend loves Indian too, so I will definitely have to try this one out. Thanks!