“My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.”
~ Secret Gourmet
This dish pre-dominantly hails from the North Indian states, mostly from the Punjab, New Delhi belt. Almost every single restaurant, dhaba, street food vendor will have this dish on their menu or as famously seen, hanging in their open outdoor kitchens. As a matter of fact, this dish can be seen in every single part of India that serves Muglai Dish. I strongly believe this dish should be named the National Non- Vegetarian dish of our country 😛
Tandoori chicken as the name suggests, is cooked in a clay tandoor traditionally but you can also cook it on a coal barbecue or if you don’t have that either, you can use the techniques I have mentioned in my recipe below to get that beautiful smoky flavor and charry texture of a clay tandoor.
A fairly simple dish to make with very basic ingredients. Marination is key to this dish and a good length of marionation (atleast 4-6 hours) will make the chicken meat packed with flavor all the way to the bone and give the flesh a super soft, melt in your mouth texture. I strongly advise all my fellow foodies against using food coloring to give it that bright red color as the color that is got from artificial food coloring, contains harmful cancer causing chemicals. I myself and most high quality restaurants / eat-outs always use Kashmiri Red chilly powders or Deghi (deggi) mirch to give it that bright red color. This red chilly powder is not spicy and is vastly only used for adding that beautiful red color to dishes and a great flavor. Remember fellow foodies, never compromise on health by using cheaper substitutes.
Best enjoyed on a cold winter night, as the warmth from the burning coal gives you a certain comfort and you take a bite into that juicy, flavor packed tandoori chicken. Usually paired with a pint of beer or a few 😉 , so grab your favorite beer as you indulge into this deliciousness. And yes, do not forget its accomplices, the laccha pyaaz and pudina chutney.
The Building Blocks
- 1/2 kg chicken full legs (washed and scored)
- 1 small onion
- 6 pods (cloves) garlic
- 1 inch Fresh Ginger
- 1 Green chilly
- 2 tbsp thick curd
- 1/2 tsp black pepper powder (kali mirch powder)
- 1 tsp red chilly powder (for spiciness)
- 1 tsp Kashmiri Red chilly powder (for Red color)
- 1 tsp Everest Chicken Tandoori Masala
- 1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
- 1/2 tsp kastoori mehti (dried fenugreek leaves) (finely crushed)
- Salt as per taste
To Smoke
- 1 small Charcoal
- 1 tsp ghee
Putting it all Together
- Take a mixer-grinder and add Onion, Garlic, Ginger and Green Chillies to it. Grind this to a paste.
- Take this Fresh Onion, Chilly Ginger and Garlic paste and add it to the chicken. Mix it well.
- In a separate bowl add curd, black pepper powder, spicy red chilly powder, Kashmiri Red chilly powder, Tandoori Masala, Turmeric Powder, Kastoori Mehti and salt. Mix this well till it forms a uniform paste.
- Put this spice paste on the chicken and coat the chicken pieces well.
- Keep it in the fridge and let this marinate for 4-6 hours atleast.
- Now in this particular recipe, I have cooked the chicken in 2 ways to give it a classic Dhaba / street style taste and texture. If you are short on time (and patience :-p) then you could directly heat up a charcoal tandoor / barbecue and cook the chicken on that.
- If you are following my recipe, then take a shallow pan and add butter / ghee to it.
- Once hot, drop in the marinated chicken pieces and cook it on high flame for 2 mins on each side. This ensures the marination sticks well to the chicken.
- Then lower the flame, cover with a lid and cook for 3 mins on each side. Then turn off the flame.
- Now time to smoke it. (the chicken)
- Fire up a piece of coal and place it in a bowl / DIY aluminium utensil in the centre of the pan with the chicken. Now pour 1/2 tsp ghee on this red hot coal and cover the pan with a tight lid immediately. Make sure the lid is tight, else all the smoke will escape quickly.
- Let the chicken get emulsified with this smoky flavor. It usually takes about 4-5 minutes. This gives the chicken a beautiful smokey aroma.
- Side by side, fire up an electric tandoor and make sure it reaches 200° Degrees C. You can alternatively use an Oven.
- Take the now smoked chicken and transfer it to this electric tandoor.
- Let the chicken cook in this high furnace tandoor for 3-4 mins till it gets a nice charry texture and the masala on the chicken dries up.
- Remove the chicken from the tandoor and serve hot with lime wedges, fresh onions and if you are a beer aficionado , feel free to grab a pint of your favorite beer along with this tandoori to enjoy a full dhaba experience. Cheers.
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