Tandoori Chicken

Tandoori Chicken for the Indian camper’s soul

My husband loves camping. Come March, AB (why write the name as one initial when you can have two?) is deep in research, looking at all the camping sites available nearby. He cannot imagine letting go off spring and summer without going for at least one camping trip. California, fortunately, has tons of really good places for this, depending on what sort of camper you are. I play no role in planning these trips, but, of course, the food. We cannot simply grill some hamburgers or hot dogs, put them in buns and eat them with chips and coke for dinner (although they are perfectly viable options), camping food should be something we would like to look forward to, right? So this post is dedicated to the Tandoori Chicken I made for our last weekend’s camping trip. Tried and tested before, we absolutely love this tandoori preparation as it involves a charcoal grill. 

Ingredients:

4 pieces chicken (leg with thigh)
5 tbsp yogurt
1 ½ tsp garlic paste
1 ½ tsp ginger paste
1 tbsp mustard oil
2-2 ½ tbsp tandoori masala (I used Everest)
1-2 tsp paprika (optional)
1 lemon (halved)
Salt (according to taste)

Method:

1) Make slits on the chicken pieces. Dip a lemon-half in salt and rub all over the chicken.
You may need both halves for this. Keep the chicken aside for 15 mins.

2) Make a marinade with the rest of the ingredients – Yogurt, ginger and garlic paste, mustard oil tandoori masala, paprika and salt (if required). The paprika gives a smokiness to the flavor along with a red color. I prefer not to use artificial food color.

3) Add the chicken pieces into this marinade and ensure that all sides of the chicken are coated with it. Marinate the chicken for 2 hours or overnight (if you can).

4) Preheat the oven to 400 F. Ovens differ so please adjust accordingly.
Place the chicken on a roasting rack on a baking dish or sheet. Bake for 40-45 mins.

5) For the final charred effect we used our portable Chefmate Portable Charcoal Grill for the perfect charcoal-y smoked flavor. If you are doing this at home in the oven, spray or brush the cooked chicken with some oil and ‘broil’ the chicken for 8-10 mins at 400 F.(Again, you know your oven the best, so please adjust accordingly!)

6) Serve it hot with mint chutney or eat it just like that. It will be juicy enough.

Place the chicken on a rack and then on a baking sheet or roasting dish

 

The chicken is cooked for 45 mins, now time for the final grill

 

Off we went to Target, 15 mins before it would close, the night before our camping trip to get a grill. And very happy with this! Inexpensive and does the job like a dream.

This does the trick. A really efficient product – Chefmate Charcoal Griller

 

You see what I am saying! The charcoal smoke giving the perfect tandoor smokiness, color and flavor.

 

Now this is what you want..

 

Camping just became so much better!

Camping and well-charred tandoori chicken, now isn’t this a match made in heaven?