Tandoori chicken

Crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside, tandoori chicken is one of the most widespread and popular Indian recipes. Here's how to prepare it at home.

Indian cuisine, with its spices and intense aromas, gives us some truly particular recipes which, thanks to the spread of ethnic restaurants, have also entered our kitchens. Among these, tandoori chicken stands out, a very particular way of cooking chicken invented almost by chance by the Indian chef Kundan Lal Gujral. He was the first to discover that it was possible to cook chicken in the tandori, the traditional Indian oven until then used only for cooking naan bread .

But cooking is only the last phase of the preparation of this recipe: first, in fact, it is necessary to leave the chicken thighs (or thighs) to marinate in yogurt, enriched with a particular blend of spices known as tandori masala based on chilli pepper, turmeric, ginger and curry. The result is a chicken that is as crispy on the outside as it is tender and juicy on the inside .

How to prepare tandoori chicken recipe

1. First prepare the garlic and ginger paste . The first is obtained by simply crushing the garlic with the appropriate tool. For the ginger paste, after peeling the root, grate it with a grater with fine holes.
2. At this point prepare the marinade: mix the yogurt with the spices in a bowl (keeping aside a spoonful of tandori masala for later), the garlic and ginger paste and the lemon juice.
3. Remove the skin from the chicken thighs, rinse them under running water and dry them well with kitchen paper. Score the meat for at least half a centimeter.
4. Pour the marinade into a baking dish, add the chicken and mix so that the seasoning is distributed. Leave to rest in the refrigerator covered with cling film for 12-24 hours.
5. Transfer the legs to a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake them at 200°C for 35 minutes or until they are golden brown on the surface.

In some versions the chicken is first marinated in salt and lemon juice for 30 minutes and only then in spiced yogurt, as seen in this video . Choose the path you prefer, the result will still be excellent.

The best way to enjoy your tandoori chicken is freshly made while it is still hot. Accompany it with traditional chapati or naan bread for a dinner entirely dedicated to India.

How to prepare tandoori masala

Tandori masala, this mixture of spices essential for giving chicken its characteristic flavour, can be found on the market in the ethnic section of supermarkets in powder or paste form. Alternatively, you can make it at home by mixing different spices and then storing everything in a glass jar. Here are the ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons cumin powder
• 2 tablespoons coriander powder
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon of turmeric
• 1 tablespoon powdered ginger
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon Sichuan pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon clove powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

The more faithful you are to the recipe, the more authentic the mixture will seem but if you can't find some of these spices you will still get an excellent tandoori chicken.

Conservation

Tandoori chicken will keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. We recommend reheating it before consuming it, even shredding it and combining it withrice pilaf and raita sauce.

Origin and history

The dish, as mentioned, was born almost by chance at the hands of Kundan Lal Gujral , restaurateur of the Moti Mahal in Peshawar, Punjab. He was the first to use the tandoor, the conical-shaped oven usually used only for baking bread, to cook this delicious marinated chicken. The result was surprising: thanks to the high temperatures (it can reach 500°C) it was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside.

At the time the city belonged to India but, following English domination, it passed to Pakistan. The restaurateur then moved to New Delhi where he opened a new restaurant. From here the success of the chicken was such that it even reached the ears of Prime Minister Jawahrlal Nehru (in office between 1947 and 1964) who included it in the menu of official banquets. This is how the likes of Nixon and Kennedy got to taste it.