Oven Baked Tandoori Chicken

Hey, Peeps!! This is my second post today. And this post is about my favourite family dish – Tandoori Chicken!

Tandoori Chicken is traditionally cooked in a tandoor – a kind of clay oven which is heated by charcoal or wood and this lends a wonderful smoky flavour. But nowadays, it can be prepared well in an oven or grill too.

The chicken is marinated in thick curd/yoghurt and seasoned with the spice mixture known as tandoori masala. Cayenne pepper, red chili powder or Kashmiri red chili powder is used to give it a fiery red hue. Alternatively, in milder versions, both red and yellow food coloring are used to achieve bright colors.

This popular Indian dish originated in the Punjab before the independence of India and Pakistan. Although tandoor cooked chicken dates back to as early as the Mughal era, the dish is believed to be invented by Kundan Lal Gujral, a man who ran a restaurant called Moti Mahal in Peshawar.

In India, tandoori cooking was traditionally associated with the Punjab and became popular in the mainstream after the 1947 partition when West Punjabis resettled in places such as Delhi. In rural Punjab, it was common to have communal tandoors.

Check the recipe below:

Tandoori Chicken (Oven-Baked)

• Servings: 5
• Time: 45-50 mins
• Print

Preparation Time : 10 mins

Marinating Time : 6 hours or Overnight

1 cup = 250 ml

Credit: Yummy Tummy

Ingredients

• Chicken – 1 whole chicken cut into 10 pieces
• Butter or Ghee for Brushing on top
• Chat Masala for Sprinkling on top

First Marinade

• Chilli Powder – 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Lemon Juice – 2 to 3 tbsp

Second Marinade

• Thick Unsour Curd / Yogurt – 1 cup
• Chilli Powder – 1 tbsp
• Coriander Powder / Dhania powder – 2 tbsp
• Cumin Powder – 2 tsp
• Chat Masala Powder – 1 tbsp
• Black Pepper Powder – 1 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder – 1 tbsp
• Turmeric Powder / Haldi- 1 tsp
• Red Food Colouring a pinch
• Ginger Garlic Paste – 2 tbsp
• Kasuri Methi Leaves – 1 tbsp

Directions

1. Prep the chicken: Make deep cuts in the chicken meat. Next, apply the salt, chilli powder and lemon juice to the pieces and rub it in well. Leave this aside for 30 mins.
2. After 30 minutes, take the ingredients for the second marinade into a mixing bowl and blend it well. Now pour this over the chicken pieces. Marinate this for 6 hours or even overnight in the refrigerator.
3. When the marination is complete, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and keep on the kitchen counter and let it come down to room temperature.
4. Time to cook it. Preheat the oven to 250-degree Celcius.

5. Line a baking tray or broiler pan with foil and grease it lightly. Place the chicken over the pan and pop it in the oven for 5 mins.
6. After 5 mins, remove the tray from the oven, flip over the pieces, apply the marinade over the pieces and pop it back into the oven for 5 mins.
7. Remove the tray from the oven after 5 mins and apply ghee/butter over the pieces. Lower the oven temperature to 160 degrees C. Now return the chicken to the oven and bake it for 10 mins.
8. After 10 mins, remove from oven, flip over the pieces, apply the ghee/melted butter to the pieces, and return to oven. Bake for 10 mins.
9. Repeat step 8 again.
10. Now remove the tray and set aside. In the meantime, increase the oven temperature to 250 degree C and set the mode to grill. Place the tray on the top rack just near the grill and grill it for 5 mins till you see some charred spots over the chicken surface.
11. Now it is done. Remove from the oven and glaze it with a final application of ghee/butter and sprinkle the chaat masala over it.
12. You may serve this with mint-yoghurt chutney.

I hope you will try out this recipe and like it. The addition of several spices along with the curd ensures that the chicken meat is juicy and soft inside. Grilling it at the end adds a wonderful, crisp and charred flavour to it. Enjoy it with your favourite poison. 🙂