Fail-Safe Tandoori Chicken Tikka

Often people think marinating meat is time consuming and not worth the effort, but I’m confident this chicken could persuade those people otherwise. There’s something about yoghurt based marinades and grilling chicken that marries together so well – yoghurt is a fantastic carrier of flavour, and even a 30 minute marinade in the glossy white stuff can make ordinary chicken so juicy and tender.

Whilst this is based on the flavour from Indian spice, you can use a yoghurt based marinade to coat chicken in endless flavours. One of my favourites is garlic with mixed fresh herbs – any combination that takes your fancy. You could also try lemon zest and black paper, maple syrup and wholegrain mustard, or perhaps honey and sumac (a middle eastern spice).

I use this method and recipe to prepare the meat for my beloved butter chicken, but it’s fantastic on its own with a simple salad and/or some pita bread and a minty yoghurt dip.

RECIPE

450g chicken breast cut into chunks

2 tbsp thick greek yoghurt

2 tsp  gram flour (this can be left out, but does help the mixture to coat the chicken better)

4 fat cloves garlic

4cm of ginger, grated ( I freeze my ginger root and grate it directly from frozen)

1 green birdseye chilli, finely chopped (or 2 tsp crushed dried chilli flakes if you haven’t any fresh)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground corriander

1/2-1 tsp chilli powder

½ tsp garam masala

Pinch cinnamon

Whizz all of the ingredients together (bar the chicken pieces) in a spice grinder or blender. Alternatively, chop the garlic and chilli as fine as possible and mix into the yoghurt along with the rest of the spices. A pestle and mortar works wonders too, if you have one.

Put the chicken into a bowl and pour over the marinade. mixing to ensure all pieces are coated.

Allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes to an hour, preferably overnight.

Pre-heat the grill to its highest setting, and thread the chicken onto skewers. If using wooden skewers, it helps to soak them in water a little while before cooking, to avoid them burning under the grill.

Cook for around 20 minutes, turning occasionally, til the edges have a charred finish and the meat is cooked though, with no pink bits left. This is great BBQ food – cooking on the BBQ gives it another dimension of flavour, and will really impress your BBQ friends. I’ve used this on whole chicken thighs, with the skin left on, which went down a treat.