There are three secrets to cooking good tandoori chicken: using a tandoor clay oven, imparting a rich red color, and using a special yogurt marinade. While a tandoor oven is ideal, a barbecue grill or regular oven can be substituted. The marinade ingredients include lemon juice, garlic, ginger, spices, food coloring, and yogurt. Chicken is marinated for at least a couple hours before being roasted in the oven or grilled, basting occasionally, until just cooked through to avoid becoming dry.

1. Tandoori Chicken<br />There are only three secrets to cooking good Tandoori meats, including chicken. The first is the use of the special clay Tandoor oven, which not many people have in their homes. The second is the special Tandoori coloring, a rich red color imparted to the meat. But for me, the third secret is the most important to learn is the special yogurt marinade used to flavor the meat. Here are the ingredients and method to create delicious Tandoori Chicken at home. For the Tandoor oven, we can substitute the barbeque grill or the oven. For the coloring, you may be able to find special Tandoori food coloring at a local Indian grocery store or online. Or you can try substituting a combination of red and orange/yellow food coloring until you get the color you want. <br />Many Tandoori recipes call for meat tenderizer but I omit this. I was never able to control<br />its use; most of the time it would over tenderize and make the surface (only) of the chicken mushy. Its omission has no downside in my opinion since if you cook the chicken correctly it will be very tender. There is no substitute for the marinade which is described below….<br />Ingredients:<br />The Chicken:3-4 pounds (approx) chicken pieces, bone-in. Alternatively, use boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed for kabobs<br />For the marinade:¼ cup fresh lemon juice2 large fresh garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped fine1 teaspoon ground cumin½ teaspoon ground cardamom½ teaspoon ground red chili pepper1 teaspoon tandoori coloring, or substitute paprika1/3 cup plain yogurt<br />Combine well all the ingredients for the marinade and let stand for a few minutes for the<br />flavors to combine. Be careful with the food coloring since it can stain your fingers.<br />Remove the skin from the chicken pieces. For a traditional Indian look, slash each piece 24 times with a knife to create just ¼ to ½ inch deep slashes. This will give a traditional look plus allow the marinade to contact more of the chicken.<br />Add the chicken to the marinade and coat all the pieces. You need to let the chicken<br />marinate for at least a couple of hours in the refrigerator. It’s ok to let it marinate all day or overnight. Be sure to stir the chicken a couple of times during this time. <br />After just a couple of hours, the chicken is ready to cook. You can use a regular oven to<br />roast the chicken in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until it is just cooked through. It is very important not to overcook chicken because it gets dry and tough very soon after it is cooked through. Alternatively, you can grill this chicken on a barbeque grill, basting once or twice with a light cooking oil like canola oil.<br />All cooking times are estimations because your oven and barbeque may be much hotter or colder than mine. Please take care to cook the chicken thoroughly, but not so much as to dry it out. <br />