How to makeTandoori Chicken?How to cookTandoori Chicken?Learn the recipeTandoori Chickenby vahchef.For all recipes visit vahrehvah.com13045Chicken hindquarters (thigh and drumstick) 8 pieces/1 kg Lemon 2 whole For Yogurt Marinade (from scratch) Yoghurt 1 cups Ginger Paste 2 tbsp Garlic Paste 1 tbsp Bay Leaf 1 piece Cloves 2 Green Cardomom 4 Mace frac14; tsp Nutmeg 1/4 tsp Caraway seeds 1 tsp Red Chillies 2 Cumin 1 tbsp Garam Masala 1 tbsp Oil 1 tbsp Food Color Red 2 tbsp For basting Butter 3 tbsps Yogurt marinade The Tandoori Chicken cooking process can be broken up into 3 phases bull; Prep bull; Marination bull; Cooking All three phases are crucial in ensuring that the tandoori turns out well Prep bull; I normally buy hind qtr chicken pieces. This is the thigh and drumstick combined as 1 piece. You can also use individual drumsticks or thighs. Avoid wings and breasts as they tend to dry out. You can also use a whole chicken. bull; For this recipe I will assume hind quarters bull; The chicken must be skinned otherwise the marinade will not soak into the chicken. Check to make sure all fat and skin are removed bull; Next make deep gashes in the chicken ndash; 2 gashes across the thigh part and one across the drumstick part ndash; make sure the gashes are deep bull; Place the chicken in a Ziploc bag bull; Use the juice of 2 lemons or 2 tbsps of Vinegar and marinate. Use your fingers to ensure that the juice goes deep into the gashes and all over the chicken bull; This will be the first phase tenderizer Marination bull; After an hour, sprinkle salt, pepper, paprika and optionally cayenne pepper (hot) on the chicken. Sprinkle enough to ldquo;pepper the chickenrdquo;. Work spices with fingers to ensure that they are evenly spread across the chicken bull; For yogurt marinade, you have two ways to this ndash; using Tandoori paste (can get from Mustafa) or doing it from scratch bull; If you are doing the marinade from scratch o Grind all the dry spices mentioned in the Yogurt Marinade above using a spice mill or coffee bean grinder (or you can also spend 2 hours pounding the spices together in a mortar and pestle) o Combine the dry spices, food color, yogurt, ginger paste and garlic paste in a large bowl o Stir yogurt mixture well bull; If you are using a tandoori powder or tandoori paste o Mix paste or powder with yogurt as per the instructions of the paste o Add 1 tbsps of garam masala and 1 tbsps of cumin to the yogurt and paste mixture as I find that the tandoori pastes don#39;t have the full spice kick o Stir the yogurt mixture well bull; Now dip each piece of the chicken in the marinade and fully coat the chicken. Don#39;t be afraid to use your hands to ensure that the marinade goes all over the chicken and into the gashes bull; Once done, put the chicken back into a new Ziploc bag. bull; You can do this one piece of a time ndash; ie marinate 1 piece and then put in to the Ziploc bag. This ensure that each piece gets properly marinated. bull; Marinate chicken for at least 8 hours but preferably for 24 hours Cooking Phase bull; This is a crucial phase. You can use a grill or oven for this part bull; If using an oven o On a baking tray, place a raised wire mesh or wire rack o Place chicken on wire rack and ensure that the rack is high enough so that chicken juices can fall into the tray without having the chicken cook in its juices o Don#39;t pack the chicken too tightly on the wire rack o Melt 3 tbsp of butter and using a teaspoon or a brush, drop 4 or 5 little drops of butter on the chicken. Use the butter sparingly. If you like you can add some lemon juice to the butter o Set the oven to 375 degrees F or 180 degrees C. Set the flame or heat to be at the bottom only (no top flame grill) o Once oven is at the above temperature, place chicken in the oven in the middle rack so that there is sufficient space to brown the chicken by convection o Cook for 35 minutes. After which turn the chicken over, baste with yogurt marinade and cook for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is done. Be careful not to overcook chicken as it gets dry. o Remove chicken and serve with lemon wedges, onions and cucumbers. Tandoori Chicken also goes well with Tomato rice bull; If you are using a grill (charcoal has the best flavor but a gas grill is easier) o You will be cooking with the indirect method. For gas grills that have three burner knobs, turn on the left and right flames but not the middle flame. o Place the chicken in the middle area of the grill where there is no direct flame underneath the chicken o Melt 3 tbsp of butter and using a teaspoon or a brush, drop 4 or 5 little drops of butter on the chicken. Use the butter sparingly. If you like you can add some lemon juice to the butter. o Cover the grill and cook the chicken for 30 minutes. The chicken should be nicely browned on one side by this time o Depending on the heat flow in the grill, you may need to turn the pieces and cook for another 15 minutes o Remove chicken and serve with lemon wedges, onions and cucumbers. Tandoori Chicken also goes well with Tomato rice