A festive, red-orange Tandoori-style chicken dish adapted from a recipe bought in India.
Tandoori-Style Chicken
This Tandoori-Style Chicken recipe was adapted from a cookbook bought in India. The use of food coloring, a common practice in Indian restaurants, brings a festive, Hindu touch to the dish. Despite the artificiality of food color, it’s well worth including for the authentic feel. Start preparing this dish in the morning of the day you plan to serve it, as it requires 7 hours of marination.
Ingredients
- 3 whole chickens, 3 1/2 to 4 pounds each or 4-6 Cornish game hens, 1½ pounds each
- 12 tbsp vegetable oil
- 6 tbsp malt vinegar
- 1½ tbsp mild chili powder
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 6 whole cloves
- Seeds from 15 green cardamom pods
- 4 dried red chiles, each torn into a few pieces
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp caraway seeds
- 1½ tsp freshly ground mace
- ¾ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 6 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 6 tbsp finely minced garlic
- 3 cups plain yogurt
- 2 tbsp orange food color powder or an equivalent amount of yellow + red food coloring
- Sizzled onions for garnish (optional)
- Lemon quarters for garnish
Directions
- If using chickens, cut the chickens into 4 pieces each: 2 breasts and 2 legs (drumsticks and thighs must remain attached to each other). You will have 12 pieces altogether. If using Game hens, spatchcock them (remove their backbone). Remove and discard all skin. Slash the flesh, not too deeply, with a small, sharp knife (about a dozen small slashes, evenly spaced, on each piece).
- Place the chicken pieces in a pan large enough to just contain them in one layer, rub the oil-vinegar mixture all over the chicken, and marinate for 1 hour at room temperature.
- In the meantime, prepare the yogurt marinade. Place the cloves, cardamom seeds, chiles, peppercorns, caraway seeds, mace, and nutmeg in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.
- Place the spice powder in the work bowl of a food processor. Add the ginger, garlic, yogurt, and the remaining 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Process until smooth. Add the food color and process until blended. The color should be a very bright orange.
- When the chicken has finished its initial marinade, transfer it to a large bowl. Cover the chicken with the orange-colored yogurt marinade, stirring to make sure the marinade covers all parts. Refrigerate, covered, for 6 hours.
- When you’re ready to cook, heat the oven to 500°F. Place the chicken pieces on a rack or a grooved broiler pan. Place in the oven and cook for 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken pieces from the oven and place them under a hot broiler. Broil until both sides of the pieces are sizzling and a little brown, turning once, about 5 to 10 minutes of broiling in all. Serve immediately.
- Alternately, grill for several minutes each side on a very hot grill over direct heat. If temperature is not yet correct, but outside looks finished, cook until done over indirect heat.
- To serve chicken tandoori the restaurant way, sizzle some thick onion slices under the broiler along with the chicken. Serve the chicken pieces with sizzled onion and lemon wedges.
- To really do it up, buy a sizzle platter at a restaurant supply store, heat it in the 500°F oven while the chicken is broiling, and place the finished chicken, onions, and lemon wedges on the hot sizzle platter for service. As you deliver the platter to the buffet table, the sound and the steam are amazing!