Chicken Tandoori

For my birthday last year, my gran gave me a book of recipes from countries around the world: Favourite Dishes of the World, Pat Kossuth, Tafelberg Publishers, 1993.  Last week Wednesday was a lovely cool Autumnal day and i thought that it a good idea to make a nice spicey curry to warm our hearts before the pending Winter!  I immediately thought of a Chicken Tandoori, as i have never made one before and almost as immediately thought of looking in the book my gran gave me!  Unfortunately, the dish disappeared so quickly, that i didn't have time to take a photo :(  And, i even made it in a beautiful casserole dish that we received as a wedding gift from an aunt of mine, so that the dish would be more photogenic!


Here is my version of this delicious recipe.  The combination of spices is just perfect.  As i finished mixing everything together, before placing the dish in the oven, the aromas coming from the casserole were so enticing, i wished away the hours until dinner time!


Tandoori Murghi (Tandoori chicken)
(Serves 6-8)


1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed or thinly sliced
15 ml ginger, freshly grated
30 ml curry powder
3 ml each of cumin, cinnamon, coriander and turmeric
5 ml salt
10ml sugar
500 ml yoghurt
1 - 1.5 kg chicken (i used thigh pieces, but you can use anything that you prefer, even a whole chicken)


Fry the onions in a bit of oil or butter until translucent.  Add the spices.  Once they have heated up and you can smell all the divine aromas, add the yoghurt.  Mix together before adding the chicken pieces.  For a whole chicken, rub the spice and yoghurt mixture over the chicken and place in an oven dish.  Bake, uncovered, in the oven at 220 degrees Celsius for about half an hour.  


Savour the wonderful aromas emanating from your oven :)  Serve with some poppadoms and fragrant jasmine rice!