Tandoori Chicken at Home

True tandoori chicken is roasted in a tandoor oven, a wood fired clay urn. But barbecuing or grilling or oven-roasting at home will yield excellent chicken if the marinade is right.

Serves 4

THE CHICKEN

A 4 to 5 lb. chicken, or the equivalent in chicken parts

THE MARINADE

¹/2 tsp. saffron threads
1 Tbsp. very hot milk
2 tsp. corriander powder
1 tsp. cumin powder
2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. amchoor powder* OR the juice from 1 ¹/2 limes
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 chunk fresh, peeled ginger root about 1" long
1 tsp. ground white pepper
1 tsp. garam masala**
¹/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
¹/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. red food coloring
¹/2 c. yogurt

* Amchoor powder is made from dried sour mangoes, and is available at Indian groceries; lime juice is a fine substitute here.

** Garam Masala is a spice blend available at most supermarkets and Indian groceries.

Start the day before you want to eat the chicken. You decide whether to oven-roast, grill, or barbecue the meat. Indians prefer to remove the chicken skin, but I'm happy to leave it on. For the marinade, dissolve the saffron threads in the hot milk and let steep for 5 or 10 minutes. Then put the saffron milk and all the remaining marinade ingredients into a blender. Puree completely, adding driblets of water if necessary to make the marinade liquid enough to blend. Choose your marinating container; I like a large ziploc bag. Place the chicken and the marinade in the container and coat the chicken well with the marinade. Refrigerate overnight, turning the chicken occasionally to ensure even marination. When it's time to cook, preheat your oven or grill, remove the chicken from its container, but retain a thick coating of marinade all over the meat. Cook the chicken according to your favorite method.