Tandoori chicken drumstick

Almost a few Kms away from my dad's house , a couple started a restaurant solely for north Indian non-veg dishes in a place called Ponnakudi. That restaurant grew very fast and became a center of attraction for many tourists and passers by. Till now its unbeatable there, though not famous like a chain of restaurant. My elder brother used to buy this for us and I absolutely love this smoky flavored tandoori chicken which was rare at that time.
One day I expressed my wish to the owner to see that oven. It was a small restaurant at that time and the lady of the house gracefully took me to the kitchen and surprisingly it was extremely clean like our homely kitchen. Marinated chickens were kept in lidded vessels. Kitchen was spotlessly clean and workers were threading the whole chickens into the oven with much care. I was thrilled to see such an enormous oven and it was much interesting to see their clay oven baked naan and whole chickens. As my mom was not that much attracted to restaurant foods we rarely enjoyed that chicken whenever my brother comes home.

Earlier I posted another detailed post on an authentic tandoori chicken and that's how it is meant to be. Click to see that post on a regular tandoori chicken.

Then I customized that original recipe to my needs and started preparing drumstick tandoori or whole chicken tandooris. Hope you all like it.

Tandoori drumstick chicken served with lemon wedges.

Pat dry the chicken after washing it.

Ingredients:

Chicken drumstick - 5

Marination:

vinegar - 1/4 cup (or) lemon - 1
curd - 1/4 cup
olive oil / butter - 1 tsp per piece
salt - as per need (1/4 tsp per piece)
red chilly powder - 2 tbsp
garam masala powder - 1 tbsp
ginger garlic paste - 2 tbsp
all purpose flour - 3 tbsp
turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
black pepper powder - 1 tsp
cumin powder - 1 tsp
Red food color - a pinch (I won't suggest it)

Method:

Wash the chicken drumstick and pat dry using paper towel.
Make 3 to 4 slits per drumstick and keep aside.
Mix everything given for marination in a large mixing bowl.
Put the chicken pieces and mix well.
Cover and refrigerate 6 hours or keep marinated in room temperature for 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Line a cookie sheet or baking tray with aluminum foil.
Apply a tbsp oil over the foil.
Keep the marinated chicken pieces with some spacing.

Turn after 15 minutes.
Let it bake both side for 10 minutes.
Then turn the oven to broil mode and keep for 3 minutes both sides or till we get red color.

Tips:

If needed add some red food color while marination.
BBq will also yield a similar quality tandoori.
If oven is not preferred, then shallow fry the pieces with very little oil and make it red by putting over hot dosa tawa.

Serving suggestion:

Sprinkle some chaat masala before serving.
Wrap a piece of aluminum foil at one end to make it holdable:)
Serve hot as side dish with biriyani, paratha etc.
Lemon wedges, onion slices or raitha are often served along with this tandoori.
It can be reheated by Microwave or using a dosa tawa.
The left over can be made into a gravy.

Tandoori chicken

Tandoori chicken is a dish prepared in a specially designed clay oven called Tandoori oven. It can be done in a grill also.Because of its mild spice content and smoky flavor , it is loved by people all over the world.

Wikipedia tells us about the history of tandoori chicken.
Interested can click here to read the story behind tandoori chicken.

Here I am describing the procedure to make the Tandoori chicken in our household oven.

Method:

Chicken - 2 lb

Select a chicken of medium size, with tender meat. Cut it into 4 pieces. This is called butterfly cut / quarters. Wash it by applying turmeric powder.
Make uniform slits all over the chicken pieces and keep aside.

We need to marinate it twice to get a juicy Tandoori chicken.

First marination:
salt - 1 tbsp
Red chilly powder - 2 tsp.
Lime juice / vinegar - 3 tbsp

Mix everything above and apply this on the chicken and marinate for one hour.




Second marination:


Ingredients:
Thick curd - 1/2 cup
Ginger garlic paste (ginger - 2 inch + garlic - 6 cloves )
salt - to taste
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
(Instead we can grind 3 cloves, 2 inch cinnamon, 2 cardamom, 1/2 tsp cumin , 1/2 tsp fennel)
Lime juice / vinegar - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Red food color - 4 drops
cooking oil - 3 tbsp

Mix all the items above in a broad vessel.
Keep the chicken marinated for 4 hours in room temperature or a whole night in refrigerator.

Tandoori chicken:




Preheat the oven to 400 deg F.
Place the well marinated chicken on the grill and place a tray to collect the residue at the bottom.
We can place it directly on a baking tray lined with Aluminum foil too.

Cook for 30 minutes. Flip the chicken and bake again for 10 minutes.

Now change the mode to broil and roast the chicken both sides till we get the lovely color. (Say 6 minutes each side).

Tandoori chicken is ready.

Serving suggestions:
Drizzle chaat masala and serve hot with lemon wedges, onion.
Serve as a starter or side dish.