Tandoori chicken

Even if you don't really care for Indian food, I think most people wil really like this chicken. Usually, it's made in a Indian oven called a tandoor. Lacking a tandoor, I do it on my gasser. It is fantastic on a hot summer day, maybe with a good cooling raita.

3-4 lb chicken, whole or cut up (I joint it, then cube and skewer the breasts).

MARINADE

2 t. coriander seeds
1 t. cumin seeds
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 inch piece of ginger, roughly chopped
1 C. plain yogurt
grated zest of 1 lemon
3 T. lemon juice
2 T. white vinegar
1 t. paprika
2 t. garam masala
.5 T. salt
.5 t. tandoori food coloring (optional)

Prepare chicken by jointing and removing skin. If you are not jointing the chicken, remove the skin and make many deep incisions (all the way to the bone) on the thigh, breast, and drumstick.

Prepare the marinade...

Dry roast the coriander over medium heat in a frypan until aromatic. Then, dry roast the cumin until aromatic. In a mortar and pestle (or spice grinder) grind each to a fine powder. Roughly chop all the marinade ingredients; place them in a food processor and puree. Marinate the chicken (or pieces) overnight.

Then, que it up! I don't think I need to give instructions on that...but as the marinade is pretty acidic, you might want to cut down slightly on the cooking time.

Enjoy!

credits...
Wickramasinghe, Priya and Carol Selva Rajah. The Food of India.

Phil, this recipe looks so good. My family is from India, but I have never heard of tandoori food coloring. Can you please shed some light? Thanks.

Erik

It's simply red food color. For some reason authors of westernized recipes feel the need... .

Ground annatto and ground chilies (plus ground turmeric, if desired) will give the traditional color and are the common ingredients in tandoori chciken.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">For some reason authors of westernized recipes feel the need... . </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I agree with Kevin - the food coloring does nothing for the flavor and is a westernized approach. Using the proper spices will give flavor and color.

I have eaten tandoori chicken in India and they do not add any color. I was lucky enough to be able to see a few Indian cooks prepare this dish and they only used spices / rubs. I use the term "cooks" as these were not chefs. They were cooks hired to cook for us at temporary quarters that I stayed in when visiting near Bombay. The company that I consulted for had a large apartment that housed up to 8 people at a time. The cooks always asked us what we wanted for each meal, and they let us watch them prepare the meals.

Ray