Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken

One Indian dish that is famous all over the world is Tandoori Chicken. You can ask a person of any nationality and 95% chances are that he will be able to identify this dish. 

And why not? It is undoubtedly one of the best Punjabi dishes. Marinated in curd and spices and smoked in a tandoor, the chicken is cooked in its own juice. The charcoal adds to the flavour. 

Whenever you visit any market it is a very common sight to see marinated chicken hanging on a skewer. Just pick a piece and the cook pops it into a hot tandoor and about 15-20 minutes later you have a platter of red and smoky tandoori chicken, with chaat masala sprinkled on it, onion roundels and a big slice of lemon.

Ohh slurp!!!

Ingredients

1 whole chicken, wshed and cleaned

1 cup hung curd

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp lemon juice

Few drops tandoori red color

Salt to taste

Tandoori masala

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

5-6 black peppercorns

4 cloves

1 bay leaf

4 red chillies

1 “ cinnamon

3 green cardamoms

2 black cardamoms

Stuffing

4 carrots, cut into fingers

3 baby onions, quartered

1 cup French beans, cut into fingers

First make the tandoori masala. Dry roast all the ingredients and then grind them to a fine powder.

Make a marinade out of hung curd, ginger garlic paste, food colour, tandoori masala, lemon juice and salt. 

Wash the chicken well. Make slits all over the chicken.

Apply the marinade liberally all over the chicken. Put the marinade inside the cavity too. 

Now stuff the cavity with the carrots, onions and French beans. Scatter the rest over the chicken.Tie the chicken up with a thread so that the filling does not fall out. 

Wrap in a cling film and put in the fridge for 6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius. Bake the chicken for 30 minutes. turn it over and bake another 15 minutes.