Tandoori Chicken

We've been grilling up a storm at home. We're cheapies and we don't jack up our a/c which means that we've got to keep our house as cool as possible. That means we avoid turning on the oven and just resort to grilling. It's a good thing because I love grilled food and it keeps the house cooler; two birds, one stone.

Recently, I whipped up a batch of tandoori chicken on the grill. It's not the most authentic recipe - I don't own a tandoor - but it was still delicious and simple to make. It's a great dish for summer because you need a decently warm heat source to get good color on the meat, re: a grill. I also whipped up some cashew and raisin pilau except I used coconut milk and added peas. I guess it was a bit of a hybrid of pilau and coconut peas & rice. I doctored up leftover flatbread pita into a makeshift version of naan, slathered in a good amount of butter and sprinkled generously with minced garlic and sprinkled gently with crushed pepper flakes. Oh, and of course, we also had some red onion chutney, except we had no red onion so it was vidalia onion chutney (still delicious).

Ingredients:

1½ lbs. chicken (I used drumsticks but thighs or breasts would work)

¾ cup Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons grated ginger

1 teaspoon minced garlic

2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Just dump everything, except for the chicken, into a bowl and mix together.

Plop your chicken into a zip-top bag and then dump in your marinade and smoosh it all around to get each morsel of meat coated in the yogurty, spicy goodness. Allow the chicken to marinate for at least one day, two if you have the time.

On the day you're planning on cooking up your tandoori chicken, make a batch of rice and onion chutney.

Then, take your chicken out to the grill and fire it up on high. After it gets good and hot, plop it right onto the hot grate and let it cook for 15 to 20 minutes or until completely cooked through. A thermometer plunged into the thickest piece of meat should read 165F. The alternative is to stab it and see if the juices run clear but why waste all of that precious moisture?

Plop on some corn, if you're feeling so inclined. Also, throw on some green bell peppers and onions; because in restaurants, they always serve tandoori chicken with green bell peppers and onions.

Grill up some naan - or flatbread pita in my case.

And then serve up your delicious feast!

The chicken will be super moist and tender from its luxurious yogurt bath and full of flavor. Obviously, my chicken is not as red as tandoor-cooked tandoori chicken but it's still delicious and flavorful so give it a go.

YUM! I really love Indian food. It's just so flavorful and delicious and it's still pretty good for you. I mean, all of the flavor comes from delicious spices and not a thick and heavy sauce that's full of sugar and salt, you know? And the spices have health benefits so it's a double bonus. So, feel good about your bikini body with this one.

Here's the recipe page: