Flavour Packed Awesomeness

Recipe: Tandoori Chicken with Olive Oil

Whoever said "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" wasn't talking about my husband :) J is a person who eats just enough to get by - so unlike me, who dreams about chocolate, roast chicken and cheese-dripping Pizza slices all the time.

Probably that is why J is still the same weight as he was on his wedding day whereas I have gained many  kilos and changed many sizes :P (though I will continue attributing weight gain to the rigours of a woman's life especially pregnancy :) )

There is just one dish in the whole wide world that J loves to indulge in - Tandoori chicken!!! So I learnt to make this dish early on in our marriage :) by buying some tandoori masala (Though I forget which brand it was) and following the recipe on the back of the pack :) The tandoori chicken made using that recipe was so simple and yet so amazing. And so I stuck to it all these years. But I guess it's pretty much a standard recipe.

For a while I had forgotten all about this dish. But sometime back, when I saw Sadhana Ginde's Tandoori masala on Ria's blog, all those memories of biting into juicy tandoori chicken came back to me :) And I just had to make it once again :) 

Ideally Tandoori chicken is grilled with butter. But I decided to skip the butter and use olive oil instead. This turned out to be a superb combination.

In fact, I think Olive oil would go well with a lot of Indian flavours. It's a pity that olives aren't grown here enabling a cheaper supply of this amazing oil. Though I did read that recently some olive farms are being cultivated in Rajasthan :) How I wish someone would cultivate them in Bangalore too and provide me a couple of olive saplings as well :) So till the olive oil boom happens in India, we have to make do with expensive imported ones!

TANDOORI CHICKEN WITH OLIVE OIL


Ingredients:


Chicken - 1/2 kg (skin removed and cut into medium sized or small pieces. For LCHF, use chicken with skin)

Tandoori Masala - 1 tsp to 1 and 1/2 tsp (for Homemade Tandoori Masala check out the recipe here or here. I used the homemade masala and we loved it. In fact I don't think I'll ever go back to the store-bought tandoori masala again :) )

Kashmiri Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp (optional - We like it extra hot and hence I added extra chilli powder)
Thick Yoghurt - 3/4 cups (I prefer to use low fat yoghurt)
Lime juice - 1 Tbsp
Ginger paste - 2 tsp
Garlic paste - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Olive oil - 2-3 Tbsp (Can also be replaced with ghee, butter or any other natural oils)

Mix all the ingredients together except the chicken and the olive oil. Adjust the salt in the marinade. Taste the marinade and confirm that it is as per your taste preferences. If you think you would like a little more punch, add a little lime juice. For more fragrance and spice add a pinch more tandoori masala.

Make cuts on the sides of the fleshy pieces of chicken so that the marinade can seep in. Mix the chicken pieces in the marinade. Cover with a cling wrap and place it in the fridge for 12 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Place the chicken pieces on a metal wire rack and place the metal rack over a baking tray. (You can place the chicken pieces directly in the baking tray, if you want.)

Drizzle olive oil over the chicken pieces. If the chicken pieces are small, bake for 15 min on either side making sure to baste with olive oil and remaining marinade on both sides. For bigger chicken pieces, bake for 20-25 min on either side.

In order to get the grilled and slightly smoky taste, after the baking turn the oven to the grill option and grill for 2-3 minutes on either side.

If you do not have a grill option on your oven, this grilling can also be done on a heavy iron skillet placed on a high flame and brushed well with olive oil to prevent the chicken pieces from sticking onto the pan.

Serve with freshly chopped onions with a squeeze of lime and salt, tomato slices, cucumber slices, etc.



Enjoy this flavour-packed chicken with rice, Indian breads or even with just a fresh salad. They are too good to resist :) Even my little one loved it and surprised me when he easily downed 3 pieces of chicken. (I usually have a tough time feeding him anything)



You know, this post has been sitting in my drafts half-done for quite a while now as the struggles of day-to-day living (read work and sick child) took over and left me no time to blog. I'm glad to finally post it :)
And let me end this post with a happy note :) The sweet and gorgeous Anamika Arun of Taste Junction has chosen my Butterscotch Pecan Ice-cream as one of the top5 entries for her event Drive Me Nuts. You can check out the awesome round up here. Thank you so much Anamika for the opportunity as well as the honour...

Since chicken is rich in protein, I am sending this to Sobha's event Cook it Healthy - Proteinicious