TANDOORI CHICKEN
No nation does spices like India. They are master blenders with several masala and curry recipes. Many homes and practically all restaurants cook with a tandoor, usually a charcoal- burning ceramic cylinder, like a kamado similar to the Big Green Egg. In a tandoor, food dangles into the scorching hot chamber on skewers or spits. Heavily seasoned yogurt marinades and meat juices drip on the charcoal and vaporize back up to flavor the meat. It’s not hard to make India’s most famous dish, tandoori chicken, on any grill or rotisserie, but if you have a kamado, you can make it into a “kamadoor” as described on page 98. I do not smoke this dish.
MAKES 4 servings
TAKES 1 hour to dry brine, 12 to 24 hours to marinate, 10 minutes to prep, 45 minutes to cook, as an estimate, though cooking time will vary depending on what you cook it on and the temp.
1 whole chicken (3 1/2 to 4 pounds)
1 tablespoon Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
1 cup Yogurt Marinade (page 175)
OPTIONAL. Chopped fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
SERVE WITH. Basmati rice with peas and a mango lassi.
YOUR APPROACH. You can do this several ways:
IF YOU HAVE A TANDOOR OR KAMADO: You can do a whole chicken on a spit easily. I skewer the whole bird with the rotisserie spit from my gas grill and stand it in my kamado with one end in the bed of coals and the other sticking out the top vent. The wet yogurt is a pretty good heat shield, so you can get your kamado pretty hot.
IF YOU HAVE A ROTISSERIE ON A NORMAL GRILL: Just spear the chicken, lock it in place, and turn it on like you would any rotisserie chicken. Just keep the heat down if there is a dedicated rotisserie burner because that is intense IR. If you are cooking on a rotisserie with heat from below, you may need to crank it up.
IF YOU HAVE A GAS OR CHARCOAL GRILL WITHOUT A ROTISSERIE: You can simply spatchcock or break the chicken into parts and reverse sear it.
1 PREP. The chicken skin won’t get crispy, so I remove it, toss it on the grill or in a pan, and make cracklins as a garnish as described in Pastalaya (page 274). This also has the benefit of allowing the yogurt to work on the muscle tissue. With a sharp knife, cut 1/4-inch-deep gashes in the breast every 3/4 inch. Sprinkle the salt all over the chicken, even in the cavity. Give it 1 hour in the fridge to penetrate before applying the marinade. While you’re waiting, make the Yogurt Marinade.
2 MARINATE THE CHICKEN. After the hour, coat the bird with the Yogurt Marinade and put it in or over a pan in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. If you are going to cook this on the grates of a gas or charcoal grill, you can break it down into parts (see Eight or Ten Pieces, page 263).
3 COOK THE BIRD. Skewer the bird if you are doing it whole. In a kamado, leave the legs and wings loose so heat can get into the armpits and crotch. Keep the heat down around 225°F. On the rotisserie, tie or pin the wings to the breasts and cinch the drumsticks together so they don’t flop around and tear off. Again, keep the heat down around 225°F. If you cook it on a grate in the indirect zone of a grill, because you are not exposing it to IR you can get it as hot as 400°F. You’re done when it hits
155°F in the thickest part of the breast; it will continue to rise to 160°F+.
4 SERVE. Garnish with chopped cilantro, if desired.
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