Tandoori-Style Chicken | Tandoori Murghi

Indian cuisine spotlight at IHCC has me thinking: a meal at an Indian restaurant is incomplete without tandoori chicken. Basically, the tandoor is a vat-shaped clay oven, using charcoal or wood. The fierce heat in the oven seals the juices of the chicken and keeps it moist. In Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking, she tells us how to make the tandoori chicken at home with an everyday oven. I’m all ears.

To approximate a tandoor, she preheats the oven to its maximum temperature. In my oven, it’s 550°F. She uses serving-size, skinned chicken pieces, instead of a whole bird. Legs are in halves and breasts are in halves to quarters. Skewered or thrust them into a tandoor, ten minutes are all the time they need.

At home, the target cooking time is more like 15-20 minutes for chicken breasts and 20-25 minutes for legs. However, these are rough guides. I always have an instant thermometer on hand to check the internal temperature to determine the doneness of the meat.

An overnight marinating process ensures that the chicken is tender and well flavored. Jeffrey uses a combination of yoghurt, onion, garlic, ginger, green chili and garam masala as the marinade. Put them in a Vitamix blender and process until you have a smooth paste.

Oh, and there’s more! The traditional orange color of the cooked tandoori chicken comes from food coloring: a mix of yellow and red. I take out the color gel I use for macarons for this purpose. Mixing that with the wet marinade and removing it before baking is a messy process. I don’t think I want to do that again.

Jeffrey says you can freeze the leftover marinade and reuse at a later time. Judging by its color and texture, I have my doubts. Consequently, I discard the marinade when I’m done with it. It’s wasteful, well — I know. Somehow, I can’t get over the odd red and orange tone of the marinade. Don’t want to see that again!

The tandoori-style chicken is fast to bake. Afterall, it has the smell, the look and the flavor of the tandoori chicken we know. However, we’re disappointed that the chicken pieces are not turning out as moist as we’ve expected. In the end, I don’t think we’d ever be able to bridge the expectation gap between the chicken from a wood-fired tandoor and a regular home oven, even at 550°F.

Print Recipe

Tandoori-style chicken | Tandoori murghi

Serves: 4

Cooking Time: over 2 hours

Ingredients

• 1.25kg/2½lb chicken pieces (legs and breasts), skinless
• 2 tsp salt
• 1-2 lemons, halved
• For the yoghurt marinade:
• 425ml/1 3/4 cups plain yoghurt
• ½ medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 2.5cm/1in piece fresh root ginger, chopped
• 1-2 hot green chillies, roughly sliced
• 2 tsp garam masala (a mix of cardamoms, cinnamon, black cumin, cloves, black peppercorns and nutmeg)
• 3 tablespoons liquid food coloring, optional, see notes below
• lime or lemon wedges, to serve

Instructions

1

Cut each chicken leg into two pieces (drumstick and thigh) and each breast into two pieces. Make two deep slits crossways on the meaty parts of each leg and breast piece. The slits should be deep enough to reach the bone.

2

Spread the chicken pieces out onto a large platter. Sprinkle the chicken with the salt and squeeze over some of the lemon juice. Rub the lemon juice and salt into each piece, so that the mixture goes right to the bone. Set aside for 20 minutes.

3

Meanwhile, for the yoghurt marinade, combine a tablespoon or so of the yoghurt, the onion, garlic, ginger, chillies and garam masala in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add the remaining yoghurt to the yoghurt and spice mixture and combine well.

4

Brush the chicken pieces on both sides with the food coloring and then put them into the bowl with the marinade.

5

Put the chicken and all its accumulated juices into a large bowl, discarding the lemon seeds. Pour the marinade over the chicken to cover. Rub the marinade into the slits in the meat, then cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least six hours (but preferably 24).

6

Preheat the oven to its maximum temperature and set a shelf in the top third of the oven where it's hottest.

7

Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade, shaking off the excess, and spread them out in a single layer on a large, shallow, baking tray. Discard the leftover marinade.

8

Place the tray in the top part of the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. The breasts cook more quickly than the legs, so remove these after about 10-15 minutes, when they're cooked through. You can check whether they're done by piercing the chicken in the thickest part with a skewer. The juices will run clear but the flesh should still feel springy to the touch.

9

Lift the chicken pieces out of their juices and place on a serving plate. Serve with lemon or lime wedges.

Notes

The traditional orange color of cooked tandoori chicken comes from food coloring. I you choose to use it, mix yellow and red food colors to get a bright orange shade. If your red is very dark, use only 1/2 tablespoon. https://www.bbc.com/food/recipes/tandooristylechicken_90296