One of my favourite types of food is Indian cuisine. So being able to make Indian style food on the barbecue appeals greatly to me.
Tandoori food is traditionally made in a clay oven called a tandoor in which meat is placed on long oversized metal skewers and placed through the top of the tandoor, with the tip of the skewer touching the bottom where the charcoal is smouldering. The heat inside the tandoor sears the surface of the meat, while the metal skewers conduct the heat through the inside of the food. Cooking the meat simultaneously on both the inside and the outside.
Naan bread is cooked by slapping the dough mixture onto the inside of the tandoor. It cooks has it hangs down from the inside of the tandoor, forming into a teardrop shape.
Tandoori food can easily be cooked on a barbecue grill and you'll achieve very similar results as obtained using a tandoor.
It's normal for tandoori food to be slightly seared black on some of its edges. Which is caused from the intense heat created inside the tandoor.
The Barbecue tandoori chicken recipe below makes a good start to cooking tandoori style on your barbecue.
Practically every Indian restaurant offers tandoori chicken. The secret behind this succulent tandoori chicken dish lies in the long marinade in yogurt with spices. The coloring used to achieve the distinctive tandoori color is created using alkanet root. This is not readily available so food coloring powder can be used to achieve a similar result. Use either red, orange or yellow.
Serves 6
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Marinating time: 24 hours
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
6 large chicken legs
4 tablespoons of lime or lemon juice
1 teaspoon of salt
Marinade
9 fl oz (265ml) of yoghurt
3 tablespoons of mustard oil
9 cloves of garlic, crushed
1.5 teaspoons of salt
2.5 teaspoons of paprika
2.5 teaspoons of ground coriander
2.5 teaspoons of ground cumin
1.5 teaspoons of ground ginger
0.5 teaspoons of food coloring powder (red, orange or yellow)
1. Skin the chicken and slash the flesh with short gashes. Place in a shallow dish and rub the lemon or lime juice, and salt, into the flesh. Leave for about half an hour.
2. Mix all of the other ingredients together and rub thoroughly into the chicken. Cover and leave to stand overnight in refrigerator.
3. Place the marinated chicken over medium hot coals and grill for about 25 to 30 minutes until cooked. Turning occasionally and basting with any remaining marinade.
4. Serve on a bed of lettuce and onion rings with a wedge of lemon. Accompanied with naan bread and tandoori chutney.