Ingredients:

1.5 lb/680g/5 leg piece - chicken

For marinade:

1 cup - low fat yogurt/curd

1 - onion (small around 57 gm)

1/2 - lime

1 pod - garlic

1/2 inch - ginger (size of garlic), peel the skin off

2 - green chillies

1&1/2 tsp - garam masala

1 tsp - salt or as per taste

Red food color + orange food colour (kesari powder), a few large drops

For baking:

Jelly roll pan or cookie tray

Aluminium/aluminum foil

Pastry brush (optional)

Method


1. Wash the chicken legs.

2. Let the water drain and place them on a large plate.

3. Do not remove the skin part, it will actually protect the flesh when you bake.

4. Create 2 slits on each side of the leg.

5. The knife needs to touch the bone which means the slit is nice, deep and big.

6. This will help the marinade penetrate into the chicken.

7. Squeeze 1/2 lime into a bowl. To the lime juice, add 1/2 tsp salt.

8. Mix it well so that the salt dissolves.

9. Now take 1 leg piece at a time, take some lime juice and rub well on both sides of the chicken.

10. Using a spoon or your hand add few drops of lime juice into the slits and massage it.

11. Repeat with other chicken piece.

12. By the time you massage the last piece you would have very less juice, but that`s ok.

13. Place them back on a plate and refrigerate it for 20-30 minutes.

14. Meanwhile, in a blender/mixie, add yogurt/curd, garam masala, ginger, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt, green chilli, sliced onion and grind it to a smooth paste.

15. You might want to ensure that there are no small chunks of garlic or onion.

16. Please feel free to adjust salt as per your taste.

17. Now take the chicken from the refrigerator.

18. Remember the bowl that you used to squeeze lime, add a few drops of food colour and a few drops of water.

19. Using your hand or brush, rub the food colour on the chicken piece.

20. Remember to rub in between the slits as well.

21. Now your chicken will look all red.

22. Pour the marinade in a large bowl or a freezer bag.

23. Add one chicken piece at a time and rub the paste into the slits and on both sides and leave it in the bowl/bag. Repeat.

24. Now close the bowl or zip the freezer bag.

25. Give a nice shake and keep them back in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours or one whole day.

26. The next day, clean up your oven and preheat it to 550 F.

27. Take your cookie/jelly pan.

28. Line it with aluminum foil generously.

29. Take the marinated chicken out of your refrigerator, remove one leg piece and shake it up.

30. Let the marinade drip completely.

31. Place it on the cookie sheet/pan (ensure that the skin part covers the chicken).

32. Repeat the same with other chicken pieces.

33. Using your oven mitts, carefully place the tray into the centre rack of the oven.

34. Set the timer for 15 minutes. Let it cook.

35. Then use your oven mitts again and pull the tray out.

36. Baste it with marinade using a brush or a spoon or something else but not your hand and put it back in the oven for 10 minutes.

37. Let the juices run out.

38. Don`t worry if the juices around the chicken starts burning.

39. At this extreme temperature it has to.

40. When the oven timer starts beeping, pull the tray out and let it cool slightly.

41. Slowly take the chicken pieces.

42. If it is stuck to the foil, no problem.

43. Remember I asked you to leave the skin part as is.

44. So only the skin part might be sticking to it and the flesh part will still be safe.

45. Lip-smacking restaurant style tandoori chicken is ready to serve.

Recipe courtesy: Food for 7 Stages of Life