CHICKEN TIKKA/TANDOORI CHICKEN

Soon after marriage, I bought two cookery books: Mrs. K M Mathew's and Mrs. B F Varghese's. Both were excellent cookbooks, and I have tried almost all of the recipes.

                                                           This recipe is from Mrs K M Mathew's Cookery book. The tandoori chicken and Chicken Biryani recipes in her book are excellent.


INGREDIENTS

1. 24 chicken tenderloin pieces ( approximately 2  kg)
2. Lemon Juice as per taste
3. Chilli Powder as per taste
4. Pepper powder as per taste
5. Thick Curd Or Yogurt - 5 Tbsp
6. 1 Tbsp. garam masala
7. Cumin Powder - 1 Tbsp
8. Nutmeg Powder - 1/2 tsp
9. Ginger-Garlic paste - 4 Tbsp
10. Almond Powder or Walnut Powder - 2 Tbsp
11. Kasuri Methi - 2 Tbsp
12. 4 Tbsp. oil
13. salt, as per taste

METHOD

• Thaw the chicken and cut it into 3-finger width. Each tenderloin piece will yield 3 small pieces.

• Add all the ingredients into the chicken pieces.

• Marinate well. If baking on skewers,  soak about 12 bamboo skewers.

• Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, string the breast pieces onto the skewers, a maximum of 6 pieces on one. The pieces should not touch each other. Place all the stringed skewers in a 9 by 13-inch cake pan. The skewers should not touch each other. I have used two such pans.Place the pans in the 2 and 4 racks of the oven.
  

• Bake for 20 minutes.

• Take the baked chicken by the skewers and place them on a plate.

• There will some marinade remaining in the bowl.Don't discard that.
  
• Chop some onion and capsicum of different colours.
  
• Suate the onions and capsicum  in 2 tbsp. of oil . Add 1/4 tsp each of cumin powder and garam masala powder.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Serve the chicken on the skewers as is. We always do that. OR, for a more showy-off presentation, take small toothpicks and alternately string the chicken and capsicum onion combination. Two pieces of chicken on one toothpick. OR String it on bigger skewers.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Tastes good with mint chutney and onion carrot salad.
  
  
   NOTES
• I powder almomds(no need to roast) in a mixie , and store it in a box in the freezer. Adding almond powder thickens the marinade.
• When using the conventional oven , at 400 degree F , the air is too hot , and after baking when I open the oven door  I stand by the side to  let the sudden whiff of hot  air pass by and then take the pans outside. Otherwise if I happen to face that whiff of air , my eyes starts to water and I get a slight headache , just for a few seconds. So its better to avoid that.