Aromatic Crispy Tandoori Chicken

This aromatic crispy tandoori chicken is crispy on the outside yet, it is still very juicy. It is burst with flavor. This tandoori chicken is so flavorful that my kids love it and always ask for second.

After eating some authentic Indian food over Thanksgiving break, I had sudden urge of wanting to experiment making tandoori chicken. So, I scoured some recipes online and tried & tested several to find “the one”.

Finally, Food & Wine’s tandoori chicken recipe is the inspiration behind this version of mine. I modified their recipe a bit to enhance the flavor. Instead of baking the chicken, I pan-fried the chicken to retain the juice. Also, I marinated the chicken overnight to let the spices penetrate the chicken, added chili powder for an extra kick, used ginger and garlic paste, skipped the canola oil in the marinate mix, changed some measurement for yogurt, lemon juice and so on. The original recipe is also good, definitely give it a try.

Tip: You can use fresh garlic and ginger as mentioned in the original recipe. You need to finely minced both so that you won’t have chunky ingredients in the marinade. You can find the ginger and garlic paste in Asian market or, better yet, in Indian grocery store.

Ingredient:

• 1 tablespoon paprika powder
• 1 tablespoon garam masala
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon ginger paste
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste
• 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
• Juice from half lemon
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 chicken thighs

Direction:

• Using a small pan, toast the paprika, garam masala, cumin, coriander, turmeric and chili pepper. Stir it until all are mixed thoroughly and the spices are fragrant.
• Pour the toasted spice to a big mixing bowl. Then, add salt, ginger paste, garlic paste, Greek yogurt, and lemon juice.
• Make several slashes in each chicken. Place the chickens in the large mixing bowl and rub all area with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 2 hours).
• Preheat the olive oil in a medium pan under medium-low heat. Once heated, add about 3 to 4 chicken thighs to the pan, skin-side down. Do not overcrowd the chicken on the pan.
• Cook the chicken for 15 minutes. Then, turn the thigh over and cook for another 15 minutes. The slow process of pan-frying will cook the chicken evenly and keep it juicy.
• The chicken is ready to be served!