Photography James Moffatt, Styling Olivia Blackmore
The chicken can be marinated and refrigerated up to 2 days ahead.
Serve this tandoori chicken recipe with a fresh side salad of cucumber and avocado, all you need to add is either some steamed rice or flatbreads, and that is dinner sorted.
Ingredients
Method
Combine tandoori paste, 1/3 cup of the yoghurt, 2 tablespoons of the juice, 2 cloves of the garlic and 2 teaspoons of the cumin in a large shallow dish; season. Add chicken; turn to coat in marinade. Cover; refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat a covered barbecue with all burners on low and hood closed until temperature reaches 240°C (or follow manufacturer’s instructions). Place chicken, skin-side up, in the centre of the barbecue; turn the burners off underneath chicken, leaving other burners on low. Cook with the hood closed for 40 minutes or until chicken is browned and cooked through.
Meanwhile, for yoghurt sauce, combine 1 tablespoon of the remaining juice with the remaining yoghurt, garlic and cumin in a small bowl or jug. Cover; refrigerate.
Using a vegetable peeler, V-slicer or a mandoline, slice the cucumbers into thin ribbons.
Blanch sugar snap peas in boiling water, then plunge into cold water; drain.
Combine cucumber ribbons, sugar snap peas, avocado, chilli, coriander, peanut oil and remaining juice; season to taste.
Serve chicken with yoghurt sauce, cucumber salad and lime cheeks.
To cook chicken marylands in the oven, roast at 200°C (180°C fan-forced) for 40-60 minutes, depending on the size, or 30 minutes if using chicken drumsticks. To check if the chicken is cooked, insert a a skewer into the thickest part. Remove the skewer and observe the juices that oozes out – it should be clear and not show any signs of pink (blood). If the juices are pink, the chicken needs to be cooked for longer.
Test Kitchen tip
Chicken tandoori recipes
Tandoori paste is redolent with aromatic spices such as ginger and tamarind that pack a delicious spice punch without the heat, making it a crowd-pleasing favourite. We have used it to flavour chicken marylands, which is the whole chicken legs with the thigh attached. Chicken cuts on the bone are less prone to drying out as they have more connective tissues, which equals succulent finger-licking flavour.
Use the same weight of chicken drumsticks or thighs if marylands are not available; check after 30 minutes by piercing the thickest part as they cook more quickly.
How to make two-ingredient yoghurt flatbreads
