The Ultimate (Faux) Tandoori Chicken

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Tandoori Chicken cooking in a Tandoor

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Excerpt from Wiki:
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” Tandoori chicken is a dish originating in the Indian subcontinent. It is widely popular in South Asia particularly India and Pakistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Western world. It consists of roasted chicken prepared with yogurt and spices. The name comes from the type of cylindrical clay oven, a tandoor, in which the dish is traditionally prepared.
The chicken is marinated in yogurt and seasoned with the spice mixture tandoori masala. Cayenne pepper, red chili powder or Kashmiri red chili powder is used to give it a fiery red hue. A higher amount of turmeric produces an orange color. In milder versions, both red and yellow food coloring are sometimes used to achieve bright colors, but turmeric powder is both mild and brightly colored, as is paprika, a sweet red pepper powder.^[5] It is traditionally cooked at high temperatures in a tandoor (clay oven).“

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Excerpt from a previous post on ChefsOpinion:
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” Some of my favorite food-memories are from my time living in Karachi, Pakistan, were my wife Maria and I had many wonderful dinners at the rooftop restaurant of our hotel, the ” Avari Towers, Karachi“.
Sadly, I understand that this restaurant has been converted into a steak restaurant by now ( after all, its been nearly 20 years since Maria and I lived there).
At the time, the roof top was a very exclusive, local-fare only, restaurant, with a tandoori oven right there on the rooftop.
Benazir Bhutto, who a few years later became prime minister of Pakistan, resided in a house just next to our hotel and came to eat at the roof top a few times while we were there, which got Maria excited each time and she actually asked Mrs.Bhutto for an autograph (which she got, despite the incredible security), which made Maria happy and embarrassed me🙂 .
Anyway, as far as the food was concerned, all the restaurants at the Avari Towers were in my opinion by far the best and safest places to enjoy a meal in all of Karachi and the tandoori dishes at the rooftop topped it all !
I had many a good tandoori dish while traveling in Pakistan and of course in India, but never did I find a good one in Florida in all the years I have resided here. While they might exist, so far they have eluded me.
So, whenever I lust for tasty, well prepared tandoori-style food that rekindles my memories of times past, I usually have to take matters in my own hands. ”
Although I don’t have access to a tandoor, this is as close as you can get to the real thing. “Faux”, maybe – but super delicious, definitely 🙂
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مزےکری ! maze karein ! زندگی اچھی ہے !

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P.S.
Usually tandoori chicken is cut into cubes and threaded on skewers before cooking. However, sometimes whole or split chicken are cooked, hanging on hooks and wires in the center of the tandoor.
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The Ultimate (Faux) Tandoori Chicken

let chicken rest in a warm place at least 15 minutes before cutting into serving sized pieces; serves 4 – 6

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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: mix 1 cup greek yogurt, 2 tblsp curry powder, 1 tblsp garam masala, 1 tblsp turmeric, 1 tblsp garlic paste, 1 tsp cumin, kosher salt to taste

: wash and pat dry a 3 lbs chicken

: butterfly chicken, remove backbone if desired (I left it in)

: season chicken on both sides, using all the spice paste, place on a rack, keep uncovered in fridge overnight to dry overnight

: chicken, following day; the dry skin is essential to a super-crisp skin

: roast chicken at 430F for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken, cover loosely with foil if it gets too dark; during the last 15 minutes, baste repeatedly with melted butter