Tandoori Chicken..Indian style barbecue chicken

An old post, updated with new pics…still so delicious 🙂

I can’t believe summer is almost over. The nights are starting to get a little colder now which means Fall is on it way. I love the fall season as it makes everything around so beautiful. It just makes saying good bye to summer so much easier. End of summer also means end of picnics, beaches, barbecues and grills. And just in case you are looking to make something special before the summer ends, here is a perfect Indian style barbecue chicken aka Tandoori chicken for you.

Tandoori chicken is probably one of the most famous Indian dishes. Chicken is marinated with yogurt and spices and finally roasted in a tandoor or clay oven at a very high temperature. You can make it on the grill or also in your oven. It is pretty easy to put together and makes for a great party or picnic appetizer. You can also turn this into an entrée by cooking the tandoori pieces in a gravy, called Butter Chicken, another very famous Indian curry.

For this tandoori chicken preparation, I am using the same tandoori masala as used in my Whole Tandoori Cauliflower preparation, but you can most certainly use store bought tandoori masala here.

Lets make some delicious Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients:

Chicken Drumsticks – 3 pounds or about 1.5 kgs, 10 pieces (feel free to use a whole chicken here and cut into pieces)

Thick yogurt – 1.5 cup

Lemon Juice – 4 tbsp.

Red Chilly Powder – 2.5 tsp, preferably Kashmiri red chilly powder

Salt to taste

Ginger Garlic Paste – 2 tbsp.

Mustard Oil – 2 tbsp., more for basting the chicken, as needed

Tandoori Masala* – 3 tbsp., (more or less, as per your spice preference) see recipe below

Red food color – 1 tsp, optional

Onion rings and lemon wedges – serve on the side

Method:

1. Make cuts in your chicken pieces on both sides and keep aside. Mix together lemon juice, salt and the chilly powder and apply it well inside the chicken cuts. This ensures your tandoori chicken is well flavored inside out. Let it rest for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, mix together the yogurt, ginger garlic paste and the tandoori masala. Now coat the drumsticks well in this second marinade. Finally drizzle 2 tbsp. oil on top and mix well. The oil helps the marinade to stick to the chicken.
3. A zip lock works best here. Just transfer the marinade and chicken pieces to a zip lock, mix well and let it rest in the fridge for as long as you can, preferably overnight.
4. Once you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 400F. Line a baking dish with foil. You can also place some vegetables like peppers or onion at the bottom and then place your drumsticks over it which helps air to circulate and cooks the chicken better. A rack over your baking pan would work too.
5. Cook the chicken for 30 minutes, turning midway and applying cooking oil as needed. Once the chicken is almost done, turn on the broil or grill mode and cook for a few minutes to get a beautiful color and crisp to your chicken.
6. Serve it hot with some onion rings and lemon wedges. A little chat masala sprinkled on top would add a lot of flavor to this lip smacking appetizer.

*Notes:

Tandoori Masala Recipe

Red Chilly Powder – 1 tsp

Coriander Seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin Seeds – 2 tsp

Nutmeg Powder – 1/2 tsp

Black pepper Corns – 1 tsp

Whole Cloves – 1 tsp

Cinnamon Stick – 1 inch piece

Paprika – 1 tsp

Red color – 1/4 tsp (optional)

Roast all these spices in a pan for a few minutes until fragrant and ground to a fine powder. Use as needed.

So there was my recipe to make this delicious tandoori chicken. I hope you will give this a try and let me know if you like it.

Thanks for stopping by.

Love,

Ritu. 🙂