Tandoori Chicken

Chicken recipes are always interesting at our household. In a home where non-vegetarian dishes are restricted to eggs, chicken and very rarely fish, you can very well imagine the buzz around the kitchen when we cook chicken. That makes it all the more interesting for me to come up with variations in the dishes.

I never miss an opportunity to make a grilled dish or nuggets when we have boneless chicken at home. Hubby dear bought ½ kg of boneless chicken breast on a visit to the hypermarket and when I asked him if he had dry starters or gravy in mind, he said its up to me. So I decided to give the gravy a miss and work with starters instead. There were 4 pieces. I cute two of them into smaller pieces for tikka and the remaining two I just marinated them whole. They rested in the freezer for a couple of days before I could make the tikka. I have no pictures here so I will post that some other time.  This is the recipe for tandoori style chicken grill.

Ingredients:

Boneless chicken breast – 2 large pieces
Oil – 1 tsbp
Marinade:
Chili powder – 1 tsp
Cumin – ½ tsp
Amti masala or Garam masala – 1/4 tsp
Salt -  to taste
Ginger paste – ½ tsp
Garlic paste – ½ tsp
Curd – 3 tbsp
Cornflour – 2 tbsp
Juice of 1 lemon
Garnishing:
Coriander leaves
Thyme (optional)

Method:
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together and keep aside. 

Make incisions on the chicken breast pieces. This is to facilitate the chicken to absorb the spices well. 

Smear the marinade paste generously on all sides of the chicken pieces and place them in a freezer safe box. Smear the remaining marinade mix onto the pieces and refrigerate for a couple of hours. If you intend to use it later, then place the box in the freezer and thaw the chicken 4-5 hours before you intend to grill it.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Place the chicken pieces on a roasting tray. Brush them generously with oil. 

Using the microwave+grill mode in the convection oven, place the roasting tray on the high rack, and grill for 15 minutes. The chicken should be almost cooked and nicely browned on top. 

If not, put the tray back and use just the grill mode (without microwave cooking option) for another 5 minutes. Let it stand for 4-5 minutes and then garnish with coriander and thyme. 

Serve hot with chutney as a starter or as main course with bread.

Verdict: One cannot go wrong with this recipe. You might have to adjust the temperature and time to suit your oven and the type of chicken. Some tender varieties cook in just the grill mode without the microwave.