Tandoori Chicken

Delicious Tandoori Chicken - create this popular Indian takeaway dish in your own home. 

I still remember my first time at an Indian restaurant, I was pretty young and was with my dad and a group of his close friends. Not really being accustomed to spices or heat, it was recommended I try Tandoori Chicken. The vibrant red colour of the chicken, definitely had me interested and when I dug in to a piece with some pilau rice and mint yoghurt and tasted the amazing flavours, it was most definitely the start of my addiction to Indian food.

My father's trade before he retired was in the food industry (not cooking food), but making the special wok cookers for Chinese and Asian Style cooking and also working with ventilation, which in turn mean't I got to eat out at lots of different restaurants and experience different cuisines from quite a young age.

As I grew older and starting cooking for myself,  I began to experiment, creating all the dishes I loved in my own home. One of the first meal I ever cooked was a Spaghetti Bolognese, completely from scratch, no jars or sachets of seasoning. I remember being so proud that I had cooked something all by myself and loved it even more when I saw it being eaten and enjoyed by others too.

The real test was when I moved out  and went to university. I had to become independent and really learn how to cook. Such a  learning curve and a great adventure.

Like many students, a lot of my meals involved beans on toast, not because I couldn't cook anything else, but it was more a case of eat something quick and cheap when you can.

I can't remember the first Indian type dish I cooked, it was probably just a basic Chicken curry with some rice, but we all have to start somewhere, right? and many years later, I can safely say I think I cook a pretty decent curry (so the people who taste test tell me anyway).

Becoming more health conscious of the food I eat, It has made me determined to create healthier versions of the dishes I love.

One of those dishes just had to be Tandoori Chicken. It is actually probably one of the healthier choices to choose when eating at an Indian Restaurant, but it's not always convenient to eat out and so I regular create my own versions of my favourite dishes.

Disclaimer: no Tandoor oven was used in making this Tandoori Chicken, but that doesn't stop it from tasting darn good and pretty authentic.

This recipe may seem like a lot of ingredient, but it really is worth using all the different spices for an authentic tasting Tandoori Chicken.

If you are short on spices, I recommend building up a good collection. You really do not need to go out and buy them all at once, unless of course you just have to make this dish right now. I recommend just buying 1 or 2 a week until you have a good selection. Check out Indian grocers or similar too, as you can often buy bigger bags of spices for a reasonable price.

I paired it up with some of my yummy Zucchini Pilau Rice, some tomatoes, red onion, cucumber and a delicious mint yoghurt. Which I make using Fat Free Plain yoghurt, a little bit of this Chutney Podina Masala powder, some fresh mint, a little turmeric for that yellow colour and a bit of sukrin:1 (a natural sweetener with no aftertaste) just to add that little bit of sweetness, you can use any sweetener of choice if you don't have this.

It's a perfect meal and feels just like a  you brought it home from the local takeaway.

---

Looking for some other Indian Fakeaway dishes? Check out these:

• Best Ever Chicken Korma
• Sweet Corn Pilau Rice
• Oven Baked Onion Bhaji
• Bombay Butternut Squash
• Lamb Rogan Josh
• Sweet Potato Flatbread
• Zucchini and Rice Pilau
• Keema Curry
• Chicken Dupiaza with Pilau Rice

with many more recipes in my full Recipe Index

---