Tandoori Chicken

Indian Rice Pilaf

Tandoori chicken is traditionally cooked in a cylindrical tandoori oven that is made of clay or metal and coal or wood is used to heat and cook a myriad of items.  Tandoori chicken is so full of flavor with all the spices that marinate with the chicken before you grill it.  It starts with a yogurt base and you add grated onion, garlic and ginger, turmeric, lemon juice and some garam masala.  Garam masala is a spice blend and there are many variations of the combination of spices that are used.  Often it has cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cardamom pods, black peppercorns, cinnamon stick and whole cloves that have been ground.  You can find this spice mixture in most grocery stores, or make your own with a mortar and pestle or in a coffee grinder that is dedicated to spices.  Marinate the chicken with the mixture for several hours or overnight.  In the summer I grill the chicken, but you can also put the chicken on a baking sheet lined with foil and broil it, or cook it on a cast iron grill pan on the stove.  Tandoori chicken is usually basted with clarified butter which helps brown the chicken, but if you are watching calories, you can skip it.  Since I usually don’t have clarified butter around, I usually just melt some butter and brush it on the chicken as it is cooking. I served it with Indian Rice Pilaf made with basmati rice.  You sauté an onion and add the rice to toast a little and add cardamom pods, black peppercorns, whole cloves, cumin seeds, a cinnamon stick, turmeric and sauté the spices a little to develop their flavor before adding chicken stock or water.  When the rice is almost finished cooking, you add some raisins, frozen peas and slivered almonds.  I served some grilled asparagus and grilled naan bread alongside and it was delicious.  Click here for the recipe….