Tandoori Chicken

This recipe is in continuation to the previous recipes I posted for Tandoori Cauliflower and Okhra and Garlic Butter Naan. The whole meal was served together and it was an absolute lip smacking combination.

This tandoori chicken recipe did justice to the chicken and my brother in law and sister who usually don't eat chicken off the bone were fighting for the same bone. That was enough indication for me that this recipe will be a rockstar for many more chickens to come. I think I have given enough background on how obsessively I cooked tandoori items that night in these previous posts. So I will take you to the recipe directly.

Tandoori Chicken
Adapted from : DivyasCulinaryJourney

Ingredients:
1. 4 chicken thighs
2. 2 tbsp yoghurt
3. 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
4. 1/4 tsp cumin powder
5. 1/2 tsp garam masala
6. 3/4 tsp red chilli powder
7. 1/4 tsp turmeric
8. 2 tsp coriander powder
9. juice of half lemon
10. 2 pinch orange food color
11. 2 tsp melted butter
12. olive oil
13. salt to taste

Start off by defrosting the chicken if you are using frozen chicken. To defrost, keep the chicken in microwave for a minute or let the zip locked bag of chicken rest in a bowl filled with cold water. It took me about half an hour to defrost the chicken thighs using the cold water method.
Once the chicken is defrosted, wash it and make slits on it so that the marinade may enter the chicken properly.

Now prepare the marinade. Mix the youghurt, ginger garlic paste, spices, lemon juice and the orange food color in a bowl. Now put the chicken inside this bowl and cover it properly with the marinade. I had extra marinade (about a tablespoon) and I used it to marinate two par boiled potatoes. For par boiling I cooked two potatoes in a cooker for a few minutes. I cut them and poked them with fork. Then marinated them and kept in the fridge for the same time as I kept the chicken, 7-8 hours.

Cover the bowl with a cling film and keep it in the fridge for about 7-8 hours or overnight. The longer is the marination for tandoori chicken, the better is the taste.

Preheat the oven to 220 degree Celsius. Now take a baking tray and cover it with aluminium foil on the inside. Spread about 2 tbsp of olive oil on the baking tray. Olive oil will help in cooking the chicken and will also prevent the chicken from sticking to the foil. Place the chicken thighs on the baking tray and place it in the oven. Cook the chicken on one side for about 20 minutes. Then flip it over and cook for another 15 minutes.
Brush the chicken thighs with the melted butter and broil the chicken for about 3-4 minutes to get the charred affect.

Chicken will get a beautiful color and will be all shimmery and shining. Serve hot with onion rings, tomato slices, coriander and cilantro chutney along with garlic naan. This recipe is a keeper guys. You can use any other part of chicken. Just remember that according to the number of pieces used and the size of each piece the requirement of the marination may vary. 

Have fun eating the chicken. :)