Added by RyanS on Thursday, February 26, 2009
This lists all the steps you should follow to make a tandoori chicken 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 prepared by Pataks and 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, tandoori masala, tandoori masala paste, tandoori marinade, marinating the chicken, cooking the chicken. You may also want to prepare a salad bed to present with the cooked meat.
Servings
Serves: 6Preparation Time
Preparation time: 24 hours marination + 1 hour cookingIngredients
Tandoori Masala
This will make enough masala mix to make a few tandoori meals.
- 8 tsp ground coriander
- 7 tsp ground cumin
- 7 tsp garlic powder
- 7 tsp paprika
- 5 tsp ground ginger
- 5 tsp mango powder
- 2 tsp dried mint
- 5 tsp beetroot powder (or 1tsp red food coloring powder)
- 2 tsp chilli powder
- 2 tsp anatto seed powder (or 1/2 tsp yellow food coloring powder)
Tandoori Masala Paste
The tandoori masala paste is used to flavour and color the spice marinade for the meat or vegetables.
If you are using food coloring in liquid form, this would be a good place to add a couple of s.
- 1 full recipe of Tandoori Masala Mix
- 6-8 fl oz (175-250ml) Vinegar
- 6-8 fl oz (175-250ml) Vegetable oil
For the Tandoori Marinade
- 5oz (150g) plain yoghurt
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 3 fresh red chillies, chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp mild curry paste
- 2 tbsp red tandoori paste
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 100ml milk (approximate)
For Chicken Tikka Pieces
- 1 lb skinless Chicken breast, cubed
- 7oz Tandoori Marinade (about half the recipe above)
For Tandoori Chicken Legs
- 4 Chicken Legs, skinless
- 7oz Tandoori Marinade (about half the recipe above)
- Juice of 1 lemon
Method
Masala Powder
To make the masala powder, you just have to mix the powders together and store them in an airtight container.
The Beetroot and Anatto powders are used for coloring, and can be substituted with food coloring powder or a couple of s of liquid food color at cooking preparation time. The bright red food colorings that you will see in restaurants are not natural and are the result of using tartrazine food colorings. These colorings can have side effects on children, including allergies and hyperactivity. They will not affect the taste of the dish.
Masala Paste
- Mix the tandoori masala and the vinegar together to make a thick paste.
- Heat the oil in a deep pan or wok and add the paste.
- 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.
- 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.
Tandoori Marinade
- Mix the yoghurt, oil, lemon, garlic, chillies, and cilantro in a blender to make a fine puree.
- Add the rest of the marinade ingredients except the milk and continue to blend.
- 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.
Now you're ready
We're going to make two tandoori dishes, here, Chicken Tikka, and Tandoori Chicken Legs. You can also cook a whole Tandoori Chicken, see the recipe elsewhere on this site.
Tandoori Chicken Pieces
- Place the cubed chicken and the marinade into a bowl or a ziploc bag and refrigerate for 24 hours or overnight (the longer the better).
- When you are ready to cook the chicken, remove it from the marinade and thread it onto skewers. (Discard the marinade, or use it to make a curry)
- Either cook the chicken over a barbecue, or on an oven rack above a foil-lined tray over a medium heat. Cook for at least 5 minutes either side, you may need to cook for longer. To test if it is ready, cut through a small piece to see if it is still pink inside. If it is still pink, cook for a while longer.
- The tandoori dish looks even better if you blacken the chicken slightly on the outside - the traditional barbecue look.
Serve on a bed of salad, with your accompaniments.
Tandoori Chicken Legs
- Make gashes in the chicken legs and rub in the lemon juice.
- Place the chicken legs and the marinade into a bowl or a ziploc bag and refrigerate for 24 hours or overnight (the longer the better).
- Either cook the chicken over a barbecue, or on an oven rack above a foil-lined tray over a medium heat. Cook for at least 10 minutes either side, you may need to cook for longer. To test if it is ready, pierce the plumpest part of the leg. If the fluid runs out clear, it is ready. If it is still red or pink, cook for a while longer.
- As with the Chicken Tikka, blacken the chicken a little before presenting by raising the heat.
Serve on a bed of salad, with your accompaniments.
For further variations, you may want to consider using the chicken tikka pieces in a Chicken Tikka Masala dish, one of the most popular Indian resturant dishes ever. In fact, it has replaced Fish and Chips as the UK's national dish!