Tandoori Chicken with Raita
Tandoori is one of my favourite Indian restaurant dishes – especially when cooked in a blisteringly hot tandoor to achieve that trademark smoky char! You can make it at home and achieve great results too – especially with a BBQ.
Ingredients
Tandoori yoghurt marinated chicken
- 6-8 chicken thighs boneless, skinless
- 3 tablespoons tandoori paste*
- 1 cup natural unsweetened yoghurt
Mango mint raita
- ½ large telegraph cucumber diced
- 1 mango flesh diced (or ¼ ripe pineapple)
- 1 small red onion finely diced
- 1 large green or red chilli chopped (optional)
- ½ cup mint leaves chopped
- ½ cup coriander/cilantro chopped
- 1 cup natural unsweetened yoghurt
- 1 lime juiced
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, tandoori paste and yoghurt together. Cover to leave to marinate in the fridge for 3-4 hours.
- When ready to cook the chicken, take out of the fridge and bring up to room temperature (about 30 minutes). Meanwhile, make the Raita. Dice the cucumber and mango/pineapple; finely dice the red onion and chilli. Mix cucumber, mango/pineapple, red onion and chilli with mint, coriander, yoghurt and lime/lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and a little more lime/lemon juice if needed.
- Preheat barbeque or oven grill to high. Season chicken well with salt and drizzle with a little oil. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until cooked through. Set aside to rest for 5 minutes.
- Slice chicken and serve with Raita and naan bread or rice on the side.
Notes
Tandoori paste: There are some very good quality store-bought Tandoori pastes available in supermarkets now, however if you would like to make your own here is a recipe: Mix 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, ½ teaspoon ground chilli, 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika and 1 teaspoon ground turmeric, 4 cloves minced garlic, 2 tablespoons tomato paste and 2 tablespoons oil together. Makes approximately ¼ cup.
You can marinate the chicken for up to 1 day if you have time to achieve incredible depth of flavour. Unsweetened yogurt is absolutely key for this recipe – the active bacteria and the lactic acid in it break down protein, making the tandoori chicken moist and tender. Good raita always has a layer of sweetness, in this recipe you achieve that with mango or pineapple. The sweetness in the raita is great with the spiciness of the tandoori paste (but be sure to buy a mild version if that’s what you prefer!).
This tandoori is epic with a mango honey lassi. If you’re a fan of cooking Indian at home be sure to check out this healthy butter chicken with turmeric pea rice and cucumber mint salad, and this chicken saagwala!