Chicken Tikka & a Winner's Ribbon!!

We are not experts on the grill! That was once again proved on the 4th Of July weekend, when I decided that we would try our hands at grilling again! But this time I chose Tandoori delicacies as our food. So a lot of work went into it for marination and prepping the meat. We planned ahead as to how we would light the charcoal and how long we will wait etc. We lit the coal successfully and waited for the time specified on the instructions. I set out to do the cooking whereas JM and the lil one were walking around taking pictures. This time I thought I was super patient and allowed a long time for the food to get cooked. After the long wait, these tikkas looked perfect and so I served them and saw that it wasnt cooked on the inside! JM was disappointed. He was saying if we cant eat grilled food then and there, what was the point of grilling!! Anyways, since the recipe actually had instructions on baking in the oven, I came back home and popped them in the oven. Within 15 minutes, I had beautifully cooked chicken tikkas and tandoori chicken, all hot and delicious from the oven. I will post the pictures and recipes of the Tandoori Chicken and Paneer tikkas shortly. So if you are an expert on grilling, try these on your grill, otherwise trust me, the oven baked ones taste just as good, if not better!! It sure was deeelicious!! You can use these tikkas to make tikka masala too! And the pictures JM took, I loved them!! :-) Enjoy!!

Recipe (Serves 4) :

Skinless chicken breasts - 1 lb 2 oz (500g)

Wedges of lemon - for garnish

Marinade:

Paprika - 1/2 tbsp

Chilly powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala - 2 tbsp

Tandoori food coloring - 1/4 tsp

Lemon juice - 1 1/2 tbsp

Garlic cloves - 4, roughly chopped

Ginger - 2" piece, roughly chopped

Cilantro leaves - 1/2 cup, chopped

Thick plain yoghurt - 1/2 cup

Method:

For the marinade, blend all the ingredients together in a food processor until smooth or chop the garlic, ginger and coriander leaves more finely and mix with the rest of the marinade ingredients.

Season with salt, to taste.

Put the chicken cubes in a bowl with the marinade and mix thoroughly.

Cover and marinate overnight in the fridge.

Heat the oven to 400 F.

Thread the chicken pieces onto four metal skewers and put them on a metal rack above a baking tray.

Roast, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and bowned around the edges.

Serve with wedges of lemon.

Source: The Food Of India by Priya Wickramasinghe.

Tips:

1. I only chopped the ginger, garlic and cilantro finely before adding to the marinade.
2. I didnt use paprika, but only chilly powder and red food coloring.

As many of you know, I participated in the Great Cooks Community: Kid Friendly Cooking event and had won the third place. I would like to thank everybody who showed their support by voting for my entry : Black Forest Cake. I received the third place winner's ribbon yesterday, and would be more than happy to show it to everyone. Some friends were interested enough to ask me about the competition even after the voting was over. Once again a big thanks to friends and family who supported me whole-heartedly.

I am sending the tikkas to the "Eat Healthy Protein Rich" event at Sangeeth's Art of Cooking Indian Food.

I am also sending this to the "Swiss National Day" event at 1x umrühren bitte. See you tomorrow with a new recipe! Have a nice day!!