Tandoori chicken is a flavourful Indian dish which is moderately hot and often cooked in a traditional earthenware oven (tandoor) or grill.
Tandoori chicken dates back to India's marvelous Moghul period, served as the main course of the day.
Contemporary versions used red and yellow food colouring instead of the tandoori spice mix to make that deep reddish colour. The dish is popular among Urdu, Bengali and Hindi-speaking populations . In Pakistan, it's eaten with naan bread while in other areas, with rice.
Try out other Indian recipes: Green Chili Chicken, Chickpeas & Eggplant, Spicy Braised Beef, Spicy Indian Cauliflower and Basmati Rice.
TANDOORI-STYLE CHICKEN
Ingredients
- 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 1 ½ tsp cumin
- 1 ½ tsp coriander
- 2 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tsp cardamom
- ½ tsp cloves
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp fresh lime juice
Method
- Whisk all the spice ingredients and lime juice together.
- Add the breasts and cover well. Refrigerate for at least one hour or overnight, turning occasionally.
- Throw the chicken on the BBQ until cooked.
By the way, derivatives of Tandoori Chicken include Chicken Tikka Masala and Butter Chicken.
ONION CHUTNEY
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp black mustard seeds
- 8 whole cloves
- 6 black peppercorns
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- ½ tsp turmeric and salt
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 large yellow onion
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 1/3 cup sugar
Method
- Heat oil over a large pan and fry the mustard seeds, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, dry mustard, turmeric, ginger and salt until the seeds pop, 1 minute.
- Reduce heat and cook onion, stirring frequently, until soft, approximately 10 minutes.
- Add the vinegar and sugar, bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer covered for five minutes.
- Remove lid and simmer until reduced a bit, another 5 minutes. Cool.
You can serve this on the side with the Tandoori Chicken, or make some refreshing vegetables such as: Holiday Salads, Bean Sprout and Green Bean Salad, Chayote and Jicama dishes and Green Papaya Salad.
FYI: Chutney or chatni refers to a variety of condiments in India which can be compared to the European relish or Latin American salsa. In India, chutney is made and eaten fresh, likely due to the strongly-flavoured ingredients which are usually available at the time of year.
Varieties of chutney include: coconut, onion, green tomato, coriander or mint, tamarind, lime and garlic.
NOTE: Chutneys were exported to Europe, especially England and France, during the 1600s. Eventualy, by the 19th century, brands of chutneys were created for Western palates which were essentially fruit, vinegar and sugar reductions.
The relish became popular throughout the British Empire, especially in the Caribbean and even the American south, where it's served with ham or fish.
