8 chicken drumsticks or chicken thighs
Vegetable oil
There's two ways to do the Tandoori Marinade:
- For ease of use you can buy Tandoori Paste which has all the spices and everything all ready to go, as well as some plain yogurt. Follow the directions on the jar for the ratio of paste to yogurt. Mix well, pierce the chicken all over, and marinate for at least a few hours or overnight if you can. I make it like this if I have a jar of Patak's Tandoori Paste still in the fridge from making Tandoori Chicken Curry.
- The other way is to make the Tandoori Paste from scratch. I have done it both ways, and unless I ate them both side by side I'm not sure if I could tell the difference. The nice thing about doing it this way, is that it's cheaper to make it yourself. If you are going to make it from scratch, this is the recipe I have used:
2 tsp thinly chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp crushed fresh garlic
1 tsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp tandoori masala
Salt to taste
½ tsp red food coloring
1 tbsp tamarind paste
Pierce the chicken all over with a sharp knife. Combine the yogurt, ginger, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt, food coloring, and tamarind paste in a bowl. Mix well and then add the chicken. Let marinate for at least a couple of hours or overnight.
Once the chicken has marinated in either tandoori mixtures, remove from fridge and place on a baking sheet covered in tin foil. Move the oven rack to the middle and preheat the oven to Broil. Place the chicken on the cookie sheet, brush each piece of chicken with a little bit of vegetable oil, and place in the oven. After 10 minutes, turn the chicken, brush with a little more oil and return to the oven. Do this twice more, until the chicken has cooked for a total of about 30-35 minutes. Keep an eye on your chicken since the oven is very hot...you don't want it to burn. Turning the oven to broil helps it to cook similar to the way it would be traditionally cooked in a tandoor oven, but nearing the end of cooking time you definitely want to keep your eye on the chicken.
