Tandoori Chicken

President's Day long weekend is half-way through, and since I am spending it at home, what better way than cooking and eating some of our all time favorites! I still wish we had gone on a trip though; I sure enjoy travelling way more than cooking; but this winter hasn't been very kind to my daughter, poor kid has had so many frequent bouts of cough and cold. Alike many of her friends around us. Hope everyone feels better soon, we are almost done with winter, aren't we! 

Last night, made some Tandoori chicken for dinner. This is a simpler version again, and has lesser fat content. I skipped yogurt altogether and didn't brush the chicken with oil in between roasting. Try it, and lemme know how your "healthier" tandoori turns out to be! 

Ingredients here make 3 tandooris (whole leg pieces). Time to cook is 1 hour.

• Chicken leg pieces (large)
• 12 cloves of garlic
• 1 finger size piece of ginger
• 1 Tbsp Ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 Tsp vegetable oil (for greasing)
• Salt (according to taste)
• 1 Tsp sugar
• 2 Tsp garam masala powder
• 2 Tsp Kashmiri mirch powder (or Paprika)
• 2 Tsp Meat masala powder
• 2 Tsp turmeric powder
• 2 Tsp lemon juice
• 1 Onion (cut in circles for garnish)
• 1 Lemon (cut in circles for garnish)

Method:

• Wash the Chicken leg pieces well.
• Dry with kitchen towels (paper towels). Make sure the chicken pieces are as dry as possible.
• With a fork, poke the chicken thoroughly.
• Now cut slits on the chicken with a knife.
• In a bowl, grate the garlic and ginger.
• Add the salt, sugar, ghee, turmeric, paprika, garam masala, meat masala, lemon juice and mix well.
• Marinate the chicken well with the spice mix.
• Cover and keep in the refrigerator. Marinate for as long as 8 hours or as little as 15 minutes :).
• I hadn't planned ahead so I marinated for 15 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees (F).
• Grease a pan with the vegetable oil. A grill pan yields best results, however a regular baking pan would do too.
• Keep the chicken with the marinate in the pan and roast for 20 minutes.
• Take out and turn the chicken legs over the other way.
• Bake for another 20 minutes.
• Turn off bake and put the oven on broil for 6-7 minutes.
• Switch oven off and take out the chicken after 5 minutes.
• Poke the chicken with forks to make sure they are well done.

Serve with onions, lemon and salad.

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