How to make a Beef, Pork, Lamb or Chicken Tandoori from Start to Finish

30 May

This recipe lists all the steps you should follow to make a beef tandoori, lamb tandoori, or chicken tandoori dish. It is quite involved if you are making the masala and paste from scratch, although you can buy pre-prepared tandoori pastes, such as the one sold by Patak’s or Sharwoods There is a 24 hour marination time, so you would want to start making the marinade the day before you plan to eat the meal.

Once you have mastered this basic tandoori recipe (which isn’t hard), you can move on to substituting the various ingredients to make tandoori variations, such as green tandoori, some of which can be found elsewhere on this site.

In order we will be making: tandoori masala, tandoori masala paste, tandoori marinade, marinating the beef, lamb or chicken, and cooking the beef, lamb or chicken. You may also want to prepare a salad bed to present with the cooked meat, and some side dishes.

First we’ll make a tandoori marinade for our beef, pork, chicken or lamb.

 

  • Ready Time :
    0 min

Servings

1/2 cup

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 tablespoons paprika
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons coriander ground
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons cumin ground
  • 3 1/2 tablespoons ginger ground
  • 2 teaspoons orange food colouring powder (optional)

Directions

Mix the spices thoroughly in a bowl then keep in an airtight container, out of sunlight.

 

  • Cook Time :
    20 min
  • Ready Time :
    20 min

Servings

1 pint

Ingredients

  • 1 full recipe of Tandoori masala mix
  • 6-8 fluid ounce (175-250ml) Vinegar
  • 6-8 fluid ounce (175-250ml) Vegetable oil

Directions

  1. Mix the tandoori masala and the vinegar together to make a thick paste.
  2. Heat the oil in a deep pan or wok and add the paste.
  3. Stir fry the paste in the oil, making sure that you stir it continuously to avoid sticking to the pan. When the liquid in the mixture is reduced it will start to bubble, and the oil will rise to the top. At this point it is ready.
  4. Allow the paste to cool and bottle it in airtight jars. You can heat up a little oil and pour this on top of the paste in the jar to form a seal which will prevent it from going off.

You should be able to use this paste in several meals.

 

Now we can make a tandoori marinade.

 

  • Prep Time :
    15 min
  • Ready Time :
    15 min

Servings

1/2 pint

Ingredients

  • 150 grams plain yoghurt (5oz)
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
  • 2 cloves of garlic chopped
  • 3 fresh red chillies chopped
  • 2 tablespoons fresh coriander/cilantro chopped
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 tablespoon red tandoori paste
  • 1 tablespoon tomato puree
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 100ml milk (approximate)

Directions

  1. Mix the yoghurt, oil, lemon, garlic, chillies, and cilantro in a blender to make a fine puree.
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients except the milk and continue to blend.
  3. Add the milk to the blender little by little, until the puree is easy to pour. You may need more or less than the 100ml stated above, depending on the rest of the ingredients. You should have a brightly colored, creamy red marinade.
  4. Refridgerate the marinade until you need it, or proceed immediately to the marination.

 

And finally, we can marinate the beef, pork, lamb or chicken in the tandoori marinade, preferably overnight. This will allow the flavours to fully permeate the meat and the lemon juice in the marinade will help to tenderize the meat before we cook it.

 

  • Prep Time :
    10 min
  • Cook Time :
    20 min
  • Ready Time :
    30 min

Servings

4 none

Ingredients

  • 1 pound lean meat beef, pork, lamb or chicken
  • 7 fluid ounce Tandoori Marinade (about half the recipe on this site)

Directions

  1. Place the cubed meat and the marinade into a bowl or a ziploc bag and refrigerate for 24 hours or overnight (the longer the better).
  2. When you are ready to cook the meat, remove it from the marinade and thread it onto skewers. (Discard the marinade, or use it to make a curry)
  3. Either cook the meat over a barbecue, or on an oven rack above a foil-lined tray in a oven heated to 425F. Cook for at least 15-20 minutes, you may need to cook for longer. You may want to leave the meat slighly pink on the inside, depending on your preference. However, You should cook pork throughly.
  4. The tandoori dish looks even better if you blacken the meat slightly on the outside – the traditional barbecue look.

Serve on a bed of salad, with your accompaniments.

 

Tandoori cooking is varied and is a wonderful surprise for your guests at a barbecue. Why present them with regular burgers and franks when you can delight them with something new? If you want to learn more about Tandoori cooking, we can recommend the two books below. The Pat Chapman book contains many tandoori variations, but it very hard to get hold of, and expensive in the USA. I’ve seen it selling for $75! You will find used or remaindered copies quite cheaply in the UK.

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2 Responses to “How to make a Beef, Pork, Lamb or Chicken Tandoori from Start to Finish”

  1. Dave May 2, 2011 at 11:59 pm #

    when preparing the paste,when oil comes to top ,do you strain it off or bottle it with the paste?
    And whet type of vinegar do you use in preparing the paste?malt,white,cider?thanks Dave

    Reply

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