Tandoori Chicken

Filed under Chicken

I was like a kid walking down the aisles of Kalustyan’s, the specialty food store in Curry Hill here in New York City. I found myself subtracting from my cart when it was time to pay for my purchases because I got carried away and bought spices I knew I already had at home.

I buy my oriental spices from Asia Food and Market in Chinatown, but Kalustyan’s carries more of the South Asian and Mediterranean ingredients that are not well-stocked downtown. I picked up some powdered lemongrass and dried curry leaves for my signature dishes, but I also bought new stashes of spice I regularly use like cumin, cinnamon and turmeric. I like buying them whole because I find great pleasure in grinding them by hand using my mortar and pestle and lining them up as I do my mise en place before cooking.

I chose to do tandoori chicken after a good night of eating Bangladeshi food one night last week. We skipped the usual suspects of tandoori and brown curries and opted to try dishes I’ve never seen before that came in all shades of yellow. While eating, we noticed that we were eating the same food that the taxi drivers were enjoying. I wondered out loud why they would even have tandoori chicken on the menu if no one ordered it. I know it’s probably for the diners who want to see something familiar so that the other dishes don’t sound too intimidating. The next day, I thought I’d made my own chicken tandoori just to see if it’s really an easy recipe to do at home. It is and so you might not see me paying for tandoori any time soon.

Ingredients:
4 pieces of chicken legs, 3 pieces of chicken breasts
1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
a pinch of saffron threads, soaked in 2 tbsps hot water
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp hot paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp chili powder
1 small knob ginger, peeled, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon
oil, salt, pepper

1. Using a sharp knife, score the chicken flesh, each piece slashed two or three times. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and transfer to a glass baking dish.
2. Combine all the spices in a bowl with the ginger and garlic. Add the saffron including the hot water and mix everything together. Massage the spice marinade on the chicken, enough to evenly coat every nook and cranny. Using a spatula, spread yogurt all over the spiced chicken pieces. Cover the glass dish and refrigerate for several hours up to overnight.
3. When ready to cook, heat a frying pan with some oil. In the meantime, preheat oven 350º. Remove the chicken pieces from the baking dish and fry them until brown on one side. (I scraped off most of the yogurt and removed the larger ginger and garlic pieces.) Turn and fry until browned on the other side. Transfer to a new baking dish and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. Squeeze some lemon juice on them before serving.

Related post/s:
Spiced Cream Chicken is also a good alternative
It’s a rainy summer and perfect for a lamb meatball tagine

Comments

Cabbage Soup with White Beans and Sausage

Filed under Soups, Stocks + Sauces

I’ve only seen two episodes of Top Chef Masters on Bravo but I’m already hooked. It’s obvious that the participants are real chefs because they all get along and act professionally under pressure. Their demeanors separate them from the whiney amateurs of Top Chef. During the first episode, chef Michael Schlow sweated his way through the Quickfire Challenge in an airy stainless steel-filled handsome kitchen, but effortlessly turned out a soup of cabbage with white beans in a dorm room. I made note that the next time it rains and I want to eat some soup, I would replicate his dish.

Well, it’s been raining in New York City almost non-stop for the last two weeks. I finally got some alone time to concentrate in the kitchen and cook without anyone bothering me. There weren’t any ham hocks in my Harlem supermarket–I know, right? That’s like running out of ground pork in a Filipino store–so I ended up using the last of the sausages from La Tienda. The pimiento flavor gave the soup a hint of red-orange and made an otherwise white and pale bowl of soup colorful.

Ingredients:
1 cabbage, cut in half then sliced into strips
1 cup of white beans, soaked in water for at least an hour
1 pimento sausage, sliced
1 carrot, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 sprigs of thyme
1 small red onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
vegetable broth
oil, salt, pepper

1. Heat some oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add sausage slices and sauté until brown around edges, about 5 minutes. Add cabbage; sauté 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Add some more oil to same pot. Saué garlic until golden brown and onions until translucent. Add carrots and celery and sauté until soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Return the sausage and cabbage mixture. Add herbs, beans and broth and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, covered, about 1 hour. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Related post/s:
La Tienda has all the chorizos and sausages you need
This recipe stemmed from my favorite kale and kielbasa soup
If you have ham hock, braise it with fennel and tarragon

Comments (2)