Post by Sneha
July has been the busiest month for my husband, S. He’s been working round the clock and still has been a good hubby to a very bored wife, treating her to movies and restaurants. So I wanted to do something special for him at random and you must have heard the cliched saying: The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. This never fails. And what S likes best is chicken! He can eat it all day, everyday. So I decided to make Tandoori Chicken and Chicken Biryani. It’s really easy to make Tandoori recipes in USA due to the omnipresent ovens here. What we ate only in restaurants in India can be easily made at home in USA and it makes us look like Indian Martha Stewarts to those back home. :-D
July has been the busiest month for my husband, S. He’s been working round the clock and still has been a good hubby to a very bored wife, treating her to movies and restaurants. So I wanted to do something special for him at random and you must have heard the cliched saying: The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. This never fails. And what S likes best is chicken! He can eat it all day, everyday. So I decided to make Tandoori Chicken and Chicken Biryani. It’s really easy to make Tandoori recipes in USA due to the omnipresent ovens here. What we ate only in restaurants in India can be easily made at home in USA and it makes us look like Indian Martha Stewarts to those back home. :-D
So making Tandoori chicken is all about the marination and the cooking time in the oven. The biryani that I made also had the Tandoori Chicken. The biryani recipe is inspired from the YouTube channel madhurasrecipes. I just tweaked it a little bit to my liking.
Tandoori Chicken:
Ingredients-
- 10 chicken drumsticks, without skin
- ½ lemon/lime juice
- Spice rub:
- 1.5 tsp red chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- Marinade
- 4 tbsp Greek style plain yogurt
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 2 heaped tbsp red chilli powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tbsp garam masala powder
- 1 tsp chat masala powder
- 1 tbsp kasoori methi (crushed)
- 2 tbsp tandoori barbeque masala (store bought)
- ½ tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tbsp ghee (oil can be used instead)
- salt to taste
- 5-6 drops of red food color (optional)
Steps:
First of all remove the skin of the chicken and wash it thoroughly. Drain out the water and pat it dry with a kitchen towel.
Make slits on the flesh side of the chicken as shown. The slits should not be deep down to the bone or the chicken will lose its moisture while cooking.
Now make the spice rub by mixing salt and red chili powder in the quantities as mentioned in the ingredients.
Rub it in the slits made and all over the chicken using your fingers. You won’t need the whole spice rub.
Now squeeze in the juice of half a lemon/lime.
Cover it and keep it refrigerated for half an hour.
Prepare the marinade by mixing all the ingredients. If you are using the regular yogurt instead of the Greek style yogurt, hang the regular yogurt in a muslin cloth for 20 min to drain out the water in it and then use. Also be careful with the amount of salt being used in the marinade because we already have rubbed some salt over the chicken. You may add in red food color as I have to give the chicken a nice color.
Take out the chicken from the refrigerator and marinate it. Use your hands to rub in the marinade over the chicken. Make sure the marinade is in the slits as well.
Cover it and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
Line the baking tray with aluminium foil. Grease the foil with Ghee. You may use oil but ghee gives the best results and it’s more authentic.
Place the chicken in the tray. Drizzle ghee over it.
Preheat oven to 450 degree F. Place the tray in the oven for 10 min.
After 10 min take it out and flip the chicken pieces over to the other side. Drizzle some ghee over it again. Place the tray in the oven for 10 more min.
Now take out the tray and remove as many chicken pieces as you want for the biryani. I used 4 in the biryani.
Now flip over the remaining chicken on the tray and again drizzle some ghee. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degree F. Place the tray in the oven for 10 min.
Take out, flip, drizzle ghee and place it again in the oven for 10 min.
Repeat the same step once again.
After 10 min take it out and let it rest. Meanwhile set the oven to broiler setting. Once the oven temp is set to broiler mode, place the chicken in it for 4 min on one side and 4 min on the other side after flipping over. This will give a charred effect to the chicken.
The total cooking time for the tandoori pieces on 450 degree F is 20 min, on 350 degree F it’s 30 min and on broiler 8 min. It may vary sometimes so you need to check it to see if it’s cooked as per your liking.
Biryani:
Ingredients-
- Sauce:
- Oil 1.5 tbsp
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- Whole garam masala - 6 cloves, 8 black peppercorns, 1 star anise, 1 black cardamom, 1 bayleaf, ½ inch cinnamon stick
- Finely sliced onion - 1
- Puree of 1 tomato and 1 onion (together)
- Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
- Red chili powder - 2 tbsp
- Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
- Garam masala powder - ½ tbsp
- Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
- Kasoori methi (crushed) - 1 tsp
- Leftover marinade used for tandoori chicken/ yogurt - 2 tbsp
- Salt to taste
- Basmati rice - 3 cups
- Green cardamom- 3
- Ghee - 2 tspn
- Fried onions - 1 cup
- Tandoori Chicken pieces (set aside)
- Salt to taste
Wash and soak the basmati rice for half an hour. Basmati rice is an indispensable part of biryani. No other rice works as well.
Boil 6 cups water and add in the the soaked rice. Add in the green cardamoms, salt and ghee. When the rice is 80% cooked, drain out the excess water from it and set aside. Cooking rice to the exact texture is crucial aspect of making biryani. Overcooking rice spoils the dish completely. To check whether the rice is cooked to the right point notice that the grains of rice should be puffed up but shouldn’t break when tried to.
Make the sauce. In a thick bottomed pan, heat oil.
Add in the cumin seeds. Once they splutter, add in the whole garam masala as mentioned.
Then add in the onions and cook them till they are translucent. Then add in the garlic paste.
Stir it for 1 minute till the garlic is cooked. Add in the spice powders and kasoori methi as mentioned. Mix it for 30 seconds.
Then add in the onion and tomato puree.
Mix it well and let it cook till it oozes oil from the sides.
Add in the chicken pieces we had set aside while making tandoori.
Stir it in and add the leftover marinade used for tandoori chicken. If you don’t have any leftover marinade, you may add plain yogurt.
Mix it well and add some salt to taste. You may add 1 tbsp water at this point. Cover and cook for 5 min.
After 5 min, add in ½ cup of fried onions. If the consistency of the sauce is very thick add in some water. You may require about 1 to 2 tbsp water. The consistency must be as can be seen in the picture. Cover and cook for 5 more minutes.
After 5 minutes, add in the basmati rice we cooked earlier, on top of the gravy. Garnish it with remaining fried onions and finely chopped coriander leaves. You may add finely chopped mint leaves too if you like. I personally don’t so I never add them in any of my cooking.
Cover it. Place the pan on a skillet so that it is not on direct heat. Reduce the flame to a low medium. Cook for about 10 min or till the rice is cooked completely.
I must say that these dishes turned out perfect! We finished off the meal with some homemade brownies and store bought ice cream. I would like to take credit for the brownies and say that I made them from scratch. But I will be honest and tell you that I used the Ghirardelli mix for brownies in which I added chopped walnuts. Nevertheless, they were delicious!
