Tandoori Chicken

By Hester

For those who like it spicy, it can be spiced up by doubling, or tripling, the amount of red cayenne pepper.

Ingredients

• 2 whole, small frying chickens
• 1 medium onion, coarsly chopped
• 1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh ginger
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup plain, whole milk yoghurt
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• salt to taste
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp. garam masala
• 5 Tbsp. ghee

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

Remove the skin from the chickens. With a sharp knife, make 3 parallel slits on the fleshy parts. The slits should be bone deep and about 3 inches long. Do not worry if the chicken looks torn up. This way it absorbs the marinade better.

Puree the onion, garlic, yoghurt, cayenne pepper, salt, lemon juice, and 2 Tbsp. of the garam masal together in a blender. This is the marinade.

Rub the marinade into the chickens, well into the slits and the rib cage from inside, so that the chickens are completely marinated. Keep in the refrigerator overnight for the best flavor. If you are in a hurry, marinate at least 10 hours! In any case, you must turn the chicke a couple of times while marinating, so that they are well marinated inside and out, top and bottom.

Preheat the oven to 500F for 15 minutes.

Place the chickens in a roasting pan or dish. Sprinkle the reamaining garam masal on the birds, place in the oven. After 10 minutes, lower the heat to 400F, put 2 Tbsp. of the ghee on each chicken, and cook for 50 minutes until done. Do not pour the leftover marinade on the chicken or even baste the chicken with marinade, since that will make it soft. Tandoori chicken has to be crisp. That is why the oven has to be realy hot to singe and seal the chicken and to prevent the juices from flowing out. Traditionally, tandoori chicken is made with whole chicken, but if you prefer, you can use thighs and drumsticks. Naturally these take less time to cook than a whold chicken but the temperatures required are the same.

Serve at once.