Easy tandoori chicken and kachumber

This is a classic in our house – chicken thighs marinated in masala-spiced yogurt and grilled for a tandoor-like finish!

Tandoori chicken

This is a tried-and-tested recipe – each time we’ve tweaked various elements to get the chicken perfectly tender and packed full of delicious Indian spices.

I like to use boneless chicken thighs and pour a little hot water at the bottom of the grilling dish to create steam in the oven for a juicier end result!

Mum’s trick is to make a masala paste ahead of time – a blitz of pan-fried spices, onions, garlic and tomato purée. It’s easily stored and can be used as an easy and flavourful base of curries.

Adding spices ordinarily is fine too if you don’t have the masala paste on hand – but it does make for the best tandoori chicken!

WHAT YOU NEED

METHOD

1 pack skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2tbsp natural yogurt
4tbsp tandoori masala (this is a simple mix of chilli powder, garam masala,
2tbsp
3tbsp tomato ketchup

In a bowl, mix the masala paste, tandoori masala powder, yogurt and ketchup until smooth.
Pour into a glass container and add the chicken, making sure to coat all the pieces well in the marinade.
Seal and place in the fridge (for best results, aim to marinate for 2 nights).
About 20 mins before cooking, bring the chicken out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and line one baking dish with grease-proof paper or foil. Place a grilling rack on top of the dish.
Place each chicken piece on the rack and pour 100ml water into the bottom of the dish.
Bake in the oven for 20-30 mins – you want to bring out the chicken when it’s just cooked and tender, but let the edges of each piece char if you can!

Serve with anything – a family favourite is with pan-fried paratha breads and fresh kachumber!

Easy kachumber

Kachumber is an easy and fresh ‘salad’ of cucumber onions and tomatoes which usually accompanies curries. This is how my dad makes it (and no one can make it like he does!).

WHAT YOU NEED	METHOD
1/2 a cucumber, finely diced 2 salad tomatoes, finely diced 1 red onion, finely diced Handful fresh coriander, finely chopped 1 tsp mint sauce 1/2 a tsp sugar Juice of 1/2 a lemon	Mix all of the chopped ingredients into a bowl and combine. Add the mint sauce and sprinkling of sugar to take the edge off the onions. Serve with tandoori chicken, curries or add to any salad!