Tandoori Chicken

I am in a mood to lament about a lot of things. Foremost being the weather. But then, I choose to do that on my other blog and shall concentrate here only on the food.

Not a day goes by where I remember all the people who provided me back home with fresh veggies, fruits, groceries and at times, our emergency meals. One of them was kabab wala on Sarjapur road. The tandoori chicken and kababs this joint made were so deliciously succulent that we needed no excuse to bring them home every other day or two.

Once we moved here, I so missed this place a lot especially on the days when my body was sore with all the german cleaning I had done!!! Since Lohr has no authentic Indian restaurant at all, most of the time, for our emergency meals we have to make do with a pizza or just german bread with the cold meat.

But then, how long can we just sit and remember the food we loved so much? Not very long. Thanks to a fellow expat who told me how to go about with this recipe in the oven. It turned out perfect. In a week's time I prepared it twice just cause the kids wanted more. I skipped the red colour cause it wasn't available and I felt that the colour was the least important ingredient.

Source: vahrehvah.com (spice levels altered to suit our taste)

Ingredients:

• Chicken legs: 6 or a kilo
• Coriander powder  1 tsp
• Cumin powder 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder: 1 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
• Pepper powder 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder 3 tsp
• Turmeric powder 1 tsp
• salt to taste
• Lemon juice of half a lemon
• Yoghurt 6 tbsp

Method:

1. Clean the chicken legs, pat them dry and make 2 to 3 slits across them.
2. Apply the salt, 1 tsp of red chilli powder and lemon juice to the legs and keep aside for 15 mins.
3. Make the marinade paste by mixing all the powders including the remaining teaspoons of chilli powder and ginger garlic paste along with the yoghurt. Mix well. Add more salt if required.
4. Apply this paste to the chicken legs taking care to see that they are well coated especially in the areas where there are slits.
5. Refrigerate the marinated chicken for 4 hours. The longer it is kept the better. 
6. Line an oven tray(I use the tray provided with the oven) with aluminium foil. Preheat the oven to 220 C.
7. Place the chicken legs neatly on the aluminium foil in the tray(This helps the chicken to cook in its own juices and at the same time gets the well grilled look)
8. Place the tray in the centre of the oven. Using the fan grill function cook the chicken pieces for 35 to 40 minutes(turning halfway between).
9. Serve with sliced rings of onion, lemon wedges and tomatoes.

Note:

I did not use any oil as the chicken we get here has its own fat content which is released during the cooking process.