Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients

• 8 chicken drumsticks and thighs, skin removed
• 250 g thick Greek yoghurt
• 3 tbsp tandoori masala
• 30 g ginger, grated
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed
• juice of 2 lemons
• 2 tsp kashmiri chilli powder
• 2 tbsp gram flour
• 40 g melted ghee
• 2 tsp chaat masala
• 1 red onion, sliced into rings

Method

1. Skin off, slashes in

   Remove the skin and cut deep slashes to the bone in each piece. The skin blocks the marinade entirely, and the slashes are how the spices get past the surface into the meat.

2. First marinade

   Rub with the lemon juice, chilli powder and plenty of salt and leave 30 minutes. Two stages is the traditional method: this one seasons and tenderises, the second one coats.

   30 min

3. Second marinade

   Toast the gram flour in a dry pan for a minute, then mix into the yoghurt with the tandoori masala, ginger and garlic, and coat the chicken. The toasted gram flour is what makes the marinade cling in the oven instead of sliding off into the tray.

4. Marinate properly

   Refrigerate at least 4 hours, overnight if you can. This is where the depth comes from and there is no shortcut.

   4 h

5. Blast it

   Cook on a rack over a tray at 240°C, or under a hot grill, for 30 minutes, turning once and brushing with ghee. The rack matters — sitting in its own juices, the chicken steams instead of charring.

   30 min

6. Finish

   Dust with chaat masala straight from the oven and serve with raw onion rings and lemon. The chaat masala goes on after the heat, or it loses its sourness.