A trip through India and its incredible places is always wonderful and full of adventures. Without hesitation, the Taj Mahal has been the monument that has impressed me most in life. It appears as if from nowhere, after crossing a building without any splendor that is no more than the entrance to this majestic building, as white and dazzling as a brilliant one.
It seems incredible that a funerary monument can be so beautiful. Or maybe because it is a tribute to the beloved woman, it is so extremely beautiful. India is such a large country that it is not only worth the Taj Mahal.
At that time I did not know what a blog was, but we already liked to eat, hahaha. And one of the most outstanding things about India is, precisely, its gastronomy. I flew to New Delhi. I remember leaving the airport on an old ambassador running through the gloom of dusty streets full of dirt. There was the adrenaline rush for the first time in that place.
From Delhi, I went to the state of Himachal Pradesh, to the Indian Himalayas. In Shimla, the old summer capital of the "Raj", I ate my first Tandoori chicken. It was delicious, spicy, tender, reddish and roasted in a traditional tandoor oven.
The tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven heated by charcoal. It is very popular in all cuisines of northern India, especially in Punjab. It is used to roast meats or fish pricked on long metal rods, or to bake bread, such as naan, which "stick" to the walls. The interior of the oven can reach more than 450 degrees centigrade. So at home, it is difficult to achieve anything even like it.
The secret of any "tandoori" dish is to marinate the food as long as possible in a mixture of spices and yogurt. In this way, the meat acquires a delicious flavor and it becomes much more tender. Actually, people prepare two marinades. A short one with garlic-ginger and lime, and the second with all the spices. In most restaurants, the chicken arrives at the table with a red color.
It is easy to make, quick and, above all, very tasty. Spices and yogurt are the secrets of this recipe, which, according to tradition, arrived in the Indian subcontinent hand in hand with the Mongolian invaders. The most traditional way of this recipe incorporates a large amount of turmeric, which gives the meat a vivid orange color.
The tandoori masala is no more than a mixture of spices, which depending on the geographical area in which it is made can lead to different preparations. Among its most common ingredients, we can find cumin, fenugreek, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne, pepper, ginger, clove, garlic, bay leaf, turmeric, fennel, nutmeg, celery, salt, lemon and oil among others. Although as I have said before we can find many different mixtures.
In many versions, red and yellow food dyes are sometimes used to obtain more intense colors. However turmeric powder is soft and at the same time has a strong color, just like paprika. It is moderately spicy in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India, although in Western countries it is prepared milder.
In the original version Cayenne pepper, paprika or Kashmiri pepper powder are used to give it its strong characteristic red color. If a lot of turmerics is added, the chicken takes an orange color. In some modern versions, they are dyed yellow and green.
You can accompany it with some type of Indian bread, and slices of tomato and red onion. To me, from always, I love the spicy and the spices. If you do not like it you're lost! As we were on our own, we had the great advantage of choosing where to go and, above all, where to eat. So we avoided the restaurants for tourists of international food to which the agencies take you. We ate in local restaurants.
History of Tandoori Chicken
The history of the origin of this dish is found in a man named Kundan Lal Gujral, who ran a restaurant in Peshawar before the partition of British India. Trying to create new recipes to keep the interest of his employers, Gujral tried to cook the chicken in a tandoor, which was used by the local people only to cook naan (bread). In the tandoor, high temperatures are reached and Gujral was able to cook the chickens in that clay oven, cooking them succulently inside and crispy on the outside.
After the partition in 1947, Punjab was divided with an eastern part within India and a western part within Pakistan. Peshawar became part of Pakistan and Gujral dealt with many refugees fleeing the riots and moving to India. Finally, Gujral moved his restaurant to New Delhi in a place called Daryaganj.
The fame of tandoori chicken has led to other dishes known as chicken tikka (which became popular in Great Britain as Chicken Tikka Masala). Tandoori chicken can be found in most Indian restaurants around the world.
The tandoori chicken takes its name from the type of cooking to which it is subjected, just within a particular oven called a tandoor. The Tandoori is the traditional clay oven where the food is cooked for thousands of years and all previously marinated foods. If the absence of this particular instrument in your kitchens is quite problematic for the preparation of the dish, do not worry. There are alternative methods to obtain a good tandoori chicken without necessarily owning a tandoor.
Very pleasant to the eye and above all delicious, tandoori dishes owe their coppery color with spices. It is a cuisine of the North, namely Punjab and can be defined as a barbecue Indian style where you do not use fat during cooking. The whole secret lies in a long marinade made of a set of thin yogurt, lemon and spices.
The chicken or the fish are carved deeply so that the flavors penetrate to the bottom. There are different tandoori preparations like tandoori murgh, tandoori chicken masala, boti kebab, the tandoori fish tikka or machi, created in Mumbai.
In North India, especially in Punjab and the city of Nawabs, Lucknow, chicken is a main component. The Murg Tandoori, Indian Grilled Chicken is a mouthwatering preparation done in just about 15 minutes of time. The chicken is marinated in yogurt and seasoned with Masala.
While in India we are used to eat the whole chicken, they can become difficult to cook especially without the tandoor. Cut it into pieces, or for convenience, opt for the portions directly for example, the juicy morsels of breast or drumsticks but make sure the chicken is young. If you have chosen to use the thighs, be sure to record the exact basis of the tendon, so bake well.
With regard to the area near the wing, do not forget to engrave the armpit. In the fleshy parts, carefully carve regular cuts, well separated. In this way, the seasoning will penetrate better in the flesh, giving you the best taste. If you do not have a barbecue, do not worry. You can also cook a tandoori chicken with oven of your own home.
Pre-heat it to maximum temperature and arrange it on the grill, in such a way that it is near the top of the baking oven. The Tandoori chicken is a popular dish in Indian cuisine made with roasted chicken, yogurt and spices, typical of India but consumed in various parts of South Asia, often as an appetizer.
The meat of the chicken, which are wings or thighs, is marinated in yogurt and seasoned with tandoori masala. The typical red color of meat is obtained using the red chili powder, cayenne chiles or Kashmiris, while a large amount of turmeric produces the color orange. In many modern versions of the dish you can find both colors.
It is traditionally baked at high temperatures in the typical clay ovens, the tandoor, from which the plate takes its name. However, it can also be prepared on a traditional grill.
Tradition has it that the history of the dish dates back to Kundan Lal Gujral , who opened an Indian restaurant, Moti Mahal in Peshawar before India was colonized by Britain. Trying new recipes, Gujral would try to cook the chicken in a tandoor, generally used for baking unleavened bread naan.
The tandoor are particular clay ovens, in the shape of inverted bell and buried, at the base of a fire burning wood or coal that can reach 480º. Gurjal first would be able to cook the chicken in this type of oven, making crisp the outside of the piece of meat and keeping the inside soft and succulent.
After the colonization of India in 1947, the Punjab was divided and the areas east of the state became part of India, while the areas to the west became part of Pakistan. The city of Peshawar then passed under the government of Pakistan and Gujral, like many other Hindu refugees, walked away from the fleeing unrest in India and then moving his restaurant to Delhi and changed name in Daryaganj.
The naan bread is a typical Indian dish, which is baked to the plate, in this case the bread takes the name of cheese naan because it is filled with soft cheese. The recipe is very easy to implement and, most important thing is darn good, if you consider then that the rising times are reduced and the bread is baked in the pan instead of the oven, you can not prove it.
The Indian bread naan is a leavened dough widely popular in the Middle East and Indian naan differs from many loaves of eastern origin for cooking which is made in the traditional clay oven, the tandoor, typical of India. After the chapati, Indian bread unleavened, we show how to prepare traditional Indian naan following the recipe that involves the use of yogurt and bread which gives the smoothness and taste.
The recipe is simple and accessible to everyone because baking bread can also be made in the frying pan. Many versions of naan often are added spices like cumin and nigella seeds, or milk. The naan should be consumed during the meal or can be stuffed with potatoes, onions, spices, lamb and raisins. It is sometimes served with cheese, meat or vegetables.
If it is not stuffed naan can still be accompanied various companatici, such as meats, vegetables or cheese. These variants are mostly consumed as fast food . It can also be immersed in various soups premises, such as from or shaakh. Myanmar ex Burma is known as naan bya and is often eaten as a breakfast, usually served with tea or coffee . This variant is more spherical and soft, often buttered, covered by pè byouk boiled peas, or immersed in a hsieh soup mutton soup.
Some variations of the basic recipe of naan provide a dough made of flour , white salt, yeast and a lot of yogurt and milk to make the dough smooth and elastic. The mixture is then worked for a few minutes and left to rest for several hours. Once the yeast is divided spherical in pallette of dough, which will be stretched and cooked separately. In the kitchen Pakistani naan is usually ingratiated himself with the essences, such as rose or khus stir in butter or ghee.
It can be eaten as a side dish to a meal or in turn be filled: for example, keema naan is obtained by filling the naan with a mixture of minced meat, usually lamb or mutton. Another variant is the Peshawari or Peshawari naan. The Peshwari naan, as well as the Kashmiri naan, is stuffed with a mixture of peanuts and raisins. The most common variant in the Western world is that South Asian . In Iran the word nan has a very specific meaning, indicating generally almost any kind of bread.
On the other hand, however, in the rest of Asia South-Eastern word naan is used to indicate a specific type of thin unleavened bread, similar to pita. As the pita, naan is also added to the mixture of yeast similar to the dough of the roti. The naan is cooked, however, the characteristic clay ovens in the shape of inverted bell, the Tandoor.
This distinguishes it from roti which is usually cooked on an iron plate flat or slightly concave called Tava. The modern recipes sometimes replace the yeast with baking powder. To increase volume and thickness of naan are often added milk or yogurt, is then served hot and greased with ghee or butter.
Born by chance, after an experiment of a restaurant, tandoori chicken has become one of the main dishes of Indian cuisine. The name tandoor, or tandoori, indicates a particular clay oven of cylindrical shape whose base burns a wood fire which allows the oven to reach a temperature of about 480 °. The tandoor is used not only in India but in most of Central Asia and the Middle East.
The tandoori chicken is first marinated for a long time in a sauce made of yogurt and a blend of spices suitable for tandoori that contains mostly red chili, which gives the sauce a typical red color. Instead of chili, you can also use turmeric instead gives the chicken a vibrant orange color.
If you do not find the mix of spices ready for tandoori, you can start from another mix of Indian spices, garam masala, which is retrieved more easily, and add according to your taste, curry, chili, turmeric, ginger, garlic and onion powder and cayenne pepper.
Once marinated, cook tandoori chicken in your oven at home: you will not be cooking in the tandoor but we guarantee you a result flavorful and delicious! The chicken tandoori masala has a strange peculiarities, takes you by the throat with that spicy and slightly sour taste of unripe mango, it makes you salivate and never stop to enjoy it.
In India there are restaurants serving chicken cooked in the tandoor. The tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven and vertically, of various sizes, with the focus on the bottom, where it reaches a very high temperature which is baked in a short time to avoid charring your meat, and it is for this reason that the meat is marinated and then pre-cooked in yogurt and lime juice.
The taste is well balanced and the chicken is succulent and tasty even in a regular oven, certainly lacks the aroma of tandoori, but you can never have everything in life.
Traditionally in Indian cuisine, the tandoor is used for cooking naan, the Indian bread, but, a restaurant owner, also tried to cook the chicken inside and found that due to the flame lit at the base of the oven and the radiated heat, the chicken became crisp on the outside and soft on the inside left.
The tandoori chicken was particularly appreciated by the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, in office from 1947 to 1964, which placed it in the menus of official banquets, during which many people of the State could prove important; among other Americans Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
Prep Time: 10 hours ♥ Cook Time: 1 Hour ♥ Total Time: 11 hours ♥ Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
4 chicken legs
1 cup yogurt
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
4 tsp red chilli
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp cardamom
2 sticks cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tbsp paprika
3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
Recipe Method:
Place the chicken in a large, shallow dish. Prick the chicken with a fork. Then, using a sharp knife, cut slashes in the pieces.
Heat the oil in a small pan over medium heat, then roast the cinnamon, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and paprika, stirring often, until fragrant for 3 minutes. Let cool completely.
In a bowl, whisk the yogurt, mix in the lemon juice, garlic, ginger, cumin, ground coriander, pepper, cardamom, cloves, and salt.
Coat the mixture over the chicken and rub it into the flesh. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking.
Remove the chicken, and brush with oil. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees C. Place the chicken pieces on a well-oiled grill rack in a roasting pan and; grill, turning 2 times, 30 minutes or until the juices run clear when a piece is pierced near the bone with a knife.
Let it rest for at least 5 minutes before serving. Serve with sprigs of cilantro and slices of cucumber, onion, tomato, and lemon with naan, or rice, with raita on the side.
