Chicken tikka/ tandoori

Recipe for: Chicken TIKKA/ TANDOORI

Ingredients:

·         Chicken breasts, cut into large cubes (or small pieces of chicken on the bone)

·         1 tsp salt

·         1 juicy lemon, squeezed & pips eliminated

·         5-15 fl oz plain yoghurt (see below)

·         1 clove garlic, peeled

·         ¾ in cube fresh ginger, peeled

·         1 hot red chillie, preferably fresh, or 1-2 dried (or more to taste)

·         1 tsp ground turmeric

·         1 tsp ground cumin

·         1 tsp ground coriander

·         1 tsp yellow or red food colouring

·         Wedges of lime or lemon (to serve)

·         Slices red onion (to serve)

·         Few sprigs fresh coriander (to serve)

Method:

1.       Put the chicken pieces in a large bowl, then sprinkle with salt & lemon juice, mix well & leave to soak whilst doing the next steps.  If the chicken is in joints, slash the flesh to let the juice get right in to the middle;

2.       Put the garlic, ginger & chillie into a blender with a tiny amount of water.  Blitz to a paste.

3.       In another bowl mix the ground turmeric, cumin and coriander.  Add a few tblsp of yoghurt to make a thick paste – it depends how much chicken you have to cover. 

4.       Add the blitzed garlic/ ginger paste;

5.       Add the food colouring & mix everything together well;

6.       By now the chicken will have been soaking in the lemon juice for about 20 minutes & should start to look slightly paler as the acid in the lemon “cooks” it;

7.       Add the mixed marinade to the chicken & mix well to coat;

8.       Cover the bowl & leave in the fridge for 6 hours, or preferably overnight.  If you get chance, give it a mix a couple of times during this period;

9.       When ready to eat, heat the grill to its highest setting for 5-10 minutes.  Set the grill rack to be as close to the heat as possible without touching;

10.    Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers, but don’t bunch the pieces too tightly together – leave space around so that the pieces will cook evenly.  Joints are OK on their own.  If there is a lot of marinade, let some of it fall off – you don’t want too much, just enough to coat the meat;

11.    Grill the pieces for 5-10 minutes, turning occasionally, until they are just cooked through.  The edges/ corners should be just beginning to “catch”, so the odd burnt bit is fine (and adds to the flavour of the dish).  However, don’t over-cook it or the meat will be too dry;

12.    When cooked, serve on a bed of salad garnished with the sliced red onion, lime/lemon wedges and fresh coriander;

What else you need to know:

1.       Do not re-use any surplus marinade.  It should be discarded, as it has raw chicken juices in it;

2.       Do not brush more marinade onto the grilling meat – it should be moist enough on its own.  The end result should have a dry-ish outside, and not be wet or sticky;

3.       You can play around with the dried spices or the garlic/ chillie, adding more or less to taste.

4.       You can put the grilled meat & salad into a warmed naan, pitta or wrap then eat with your fingers to make a delicious fresh “kebab”.