Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori chicken is one of the best things you can do to chicken. The marinade is

spicy and tasty and it is a very versatile dish. You can shred the chicken and use the meat as a sandwich filling, you can eat it with rice or naan, 

or - like we did this weekend - as part of a lovely barbecue with homemade bread, a light potato salad and raita.

Preferably the chicken is of course cooked in a traditional tandoor oven, but a barbecue is just as good. It gives a lovely extra smoky flavour.

For the marinade I used Anjum Anand’s tandoori marinade. She makes Tandoori lamb wraps with it, but trust me: it works on chicken as well. I rubbed the marinade in the chicken the evening before to let it marinade overnight, so we just had to light the barbecue and throw the chicken on it the day after. I love that about summer.

Barbecued Tandoori Chicken

---

For the marinade

• 150ml/5fl oz Greek-style yoghurt 
• half a small onion, roughly chopped 
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped 
• 2.5cm/1 in piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped 
• 2 tsp each garam masala and ground cumin 
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• half a tsp ground fennel seeds 
• one fourth of a tsp freshly ground black pepper 
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil 
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves 
• half a tsp red chilli powder, or to taste 
• 2 tsp lemon juice 
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste 
• 2 chickens (with skin), butterflied

Method
1. Place all the marinade ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth. Pour the marinade over the butterflied chicken and rub it in well (don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, this is the best way to do it). Leave to marinate in the fridge for as long as possible, preferably overnight. Bring back to room temperature an hour before cooking. 
2. Preheat a barbecue or grill until very hot or preheat the oven to 240C/gas 9. 
3. Place the chicken on the hot barbecue or grill to cook on both sides until completely cooked - it takes about 15-20 minutes on each side, depending on the heat of your barbecue. Or place the pieces in a roasting tin in the oven and cook for 10 - 20 minutes, until cooked through.

This feeds a crowd, as you can see :-) We served it with homemade bread which was drizzled with some olive oil, garlic and parsley and put under the grill, potato salad and a cucumber raita.

Cucumber raita

---

Ingredients

• 250ml/8fl oz natural yoghurt 
• half a cucumber, grated or finely chopped
• large handful mint leaves, chopped
• large pinch salt 
• half -1 green chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped (optional) / we always use a bit of chilli powder instead. 

Method
1. Wrap the grated cucumber in a tea towel and squeeze out any excess water.
2. Mix together all the ingredients and serve chilled.

No-Mayo Potato Salad

---

By Rachael Ray (serves 4)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds Idaho potatoes, cut into quarters lengthwise, then chopped into large chunks 
• 1/2 cup beef consomme or broth 
• 3 tablespoons capers 
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped 
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped 
• 1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped 
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) 
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Method
1. Place the potatoes in a medium pot. Fill with cold water and bring to a boil. Add aliberal amount of salt and cook the potatoes until they are tender, about 12-15 minutes. Once the potatoes are tender, drain and return them to the warm pot to dry them out.
2. Add the beef consomme, capers, red bell pepper, celery, onion, lemon zest and juice, red wine vinegar and EVOO. Season with salt and pepper. This dish tastes great either warm or cold.

Enjoy!