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. :)

Tandoori Cauliflower and Okhra

This recipe is in continuation to the previous recipe I posted for garlic butter naan.

I served a tandoori platter with garlic butter naan and cilantro chutney. Tandoori platter consisted of chicken, potato, cauliflower and okhra. This recipe is for the cauliflower and okhra (will post the tandoori chicken and tandoori potato recipe in the following post). Vegetables were crunchy and crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I marinated the vegetables for about an hour and then grilled them for about 20 minutes. Okhra is an interesting vegetable to be cooked in tandoori style as it takes a very nice flavor and a crunchy texture. You can also marinate other vegetables such as capsicum, aubergine using this marinate and grill them. The grilling time may vary as per the vegetable and the size of the chopped vegetable.

Tandoori Cauliflower and Okhra
Serves 3
Adapted from VegRecipesOfIndia

Ingredients:
1/2 medium cauliflower
8 - 10 Okhra

For Marinade:
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
1 1⁄2 cups hung curd
1⁄2 teaspoon red chilly powder
2 tablespoons gram flour
2 teaspoons coriander powder
3⁄4 teaspoon garam masala
1⁄2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chaat masala
1⁄2 teaspoon ajwain/carom seeds
1 teaspoon kasuri methi/dry fenugreek leaves
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt to taste

This recipe needs hung curd. So if you do not have hung curd, place the curd in a sieve and let the water drain out for about half n hour or 45 minutes.

Separate the cauliflower head into smaller florets. Wash the cauliflower and okhra. Let the okhra dry up or soak its water using a paper cloth or towel. Remove the head of the okhra, slit it from the center lengthwise keeping the two parts intact. Boil water with some salt. Add the cauliflower florets to the water and boil for another 3 - 4 minutes. Let the cauliflower sit in hot water for a few minutes and then drain the water.

Roast the gram flour (besan) in a non stick pan for a few minutes. Turn off the gas when the flour turns golden brown in color.

Now place the curd in a bowl. Add all the spices, lemon juice, oil and mix well. Now add the roasted gram flour and mix well to avoid formation of any lumps. Add the okhra and cauliflower florets to the marinade and toss them properly. Keep the marinated vegetables aside for an hour or so covered with a plastic cling film. You can also marinate them overnight in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 220 degree Celsius. Brush your grilling rack with olive oil and place the florets and okhra on it. Place the rack inside the oven on medium level. Let the vegetables grill for 20 minutes approximately. Check if the cauliflower and the okhra is cooked well. The marinate covering of the vegetable will turn golden brown.

Sprinkle some chaat masala on the cauliflower and okhra. Serve with hot garlic butter naan/rumali roti and cilantro chutney.

It was a meal to remember. Add more vegetables if you feel there is extra marinade (the okhra and cauliflower used may vary in size) . The pieces with a thin coating of the marinade tasted better than the ones with a thicker one. But truly the okhra came out as a star flying high along with the chicken ;)

Have fun cooking guys :)

Garlic Butter Naan

I made a lot of food yesterday. Chicken thighs have been in the freezer for a long time now and were ready to be used. I could hear the chicken calling to me during my sleeps ;). I marinated the thighs to make tandoori chicken and thus the tandoori obsession began. I marinated potatoes, cauliflower, aubergine, capsicum and okhra. Food was worth the effort. It was an amazing tandoori platter (recipe shall follow, till then posting a few pictures) and everyone loved it.

One of the initial thought was, what shall I serve with all this food? Nothing could be better than garlic naan and cilantro chutney.

Hence I made those two as well.

Making garlic naan is easy and the results are delicious. Naan was really amazing, completely flavorful and light. I ate my whole naan with an electric speed. Visuals of the naan puffing up in the oven and the aroma in the kitchen were also a delight to the eyes and nose.

Let me take you through this amazing and simple recipe for garlic naan.

Garlic Butter Naan
Makes 4
Adapted from Rias Collection

Ingredients:
1. 2 1/2 cup (275 g) all purpose flour
2. 1 1/4 cup (300 ml)  luke warm water
3. 1 tbsp active dry yeast
4. 1 tbsp granulated sugar
5. 1 tsp salt
6. 3-4 garlic clove
7. butter

First and the foremost step is to activate the yeast. Instant yeast is ready to use but active dry yeast needs to be proofed first.

Proofing the yeast: Add the sugar to the lukewarm water and mix well until dissolve. Make sure that the water is lukewarm and not too hot else it will kill the yeast. Now add the yeast and mix until the yeast starts dissolving and fewer granules of yeast are visible. Keep this jar of water and yeast covered with a cloth in a warm place. I usually keep the jar covered with towel inside the oven. Let it rest for 7-8 minutes.

Meanwhile sieve the flour and salt together. Check the yeast, if it has foam or bubbles on the top, it is active. If not, then let it rest for some more time. When the yeast is ready add the yeast to the flour mixture. I added the water yeast mixture slowly to the flour till it formed a smooth and slightly sticky dough. I stopped a little before putting in the whole water and used about 275 ml water.

Knead the dough for a minute and then keep it aside in a bowl covered with moist towel. Let it sit for half an hour (30 minutes) or till the dough is doubled in size.

When the dough is ready, divide it into four (4) equal parts and turn each of them into balls. Dust the kitchen surface with flour and roll out the dough balls one by one. While rolling out sprinkle chopped garlic over the naan and roll over with pin so that garlic gets stuck in the naan. I made slightly thick naans (about 1/4-1/2 inches thick ) so that they remain soft. Pre heat your oven on broil mode for 10 minutes. Broiling is basically exposing the food to high heat and getting it cooked in a short amount of time. I do not have a broil mode in my oven so I heated the oven at the highest temperature (250 degree Celsius) and then kept the baking tray on the topmost shelf (right under the heating element ).

Take a baking tray, line it with aluminum foil and dust with flour. Keep the baking tray on the topmost level.  Cook one side of the naan for 4-5 minutes or till the point the naan puffs up and starts getting brown spots. This was a very happy moment. I don't have any pictures of it but the naan had puffed up, was getting brown spots all over and was beautiful :). Flip over the naan and broil the second side for 1-2 minutes.

Brush with butter and serve hot. I served it along with the tandoori platter and cilantro chutney. It was a big hit. Beautiful flavors, soft and light.

Go ahead, give it a try. I am sure you won't regret.