Tandoori chicken, almost
You’re not ever likely to have a tandoor oven in the kitchen, never likely to have access to the brilliant dry heat of these marvellous Indian vats of cooking, but with a bit of trickery and a touch of magic, you can produce some of the flavours of the tandoor, simply.
6 chicken breasts — 1 per person
THE MARINADE
1 red pepper, roasted and peeled 1 onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, chopped roughly
1 similar-sized piece of ginger,
skinned and chopped
salt
2 cups plain yoghurt, no sugar added
THE PASTE
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 similar-sized piece of ginger, skinned and chopped
1 chilli, chopped
2 dessertspoons paprika
1 dessertspoon chilli powder
juice of 2 lemons
black pepper
1
THE NIGHT BEFORE
The chicken needs to be marinated overnight, a bit like tired feet after a long march. Mix the red pepper, onion, garlic, ginger and a little salt with the yoghurt.
2
Make the paste: whizz the garlic, ginger, chilli, paprika, chilli powder and lemon juice together.
3
Remove the skin from the breasts and rub the paste all over them. They will have the bright orange-red colour of an auctioneer at the fall of the hammer.
4
Prick the chicken breasts all over with a fork and cover with the yoghurt marinade. Leave overnight.
5
ON THE DAY
Heat the oven to flat out.
6
Cook the chicken on a tray until it is done, just giving to the touch. Turn the pepper mill over the top.
7
Serve with a dressed salad, with crisp bacon tossed through it; or a little of the marinade, brought to a boil, reduced and strained.
WINE: Big, full-flavoured fume blanc or sauvignon blanc will suit this dish. Try Taltarni’s or Tim Knappstein’s. Another I like is De Bortoli, Windy Peak.