Tandoori chicken or Murg-e-Tandoori

Mughlai recipes are such mouth-watering dishes but they often are accused of being hard, time-consuming, tiring preparations. I'd like to share my process and bury that myth away but remember you prepare the chicken in advance and cook it the next day. So if you thought you'd prepare and cook the same day...then you'll be disappointed.

Ingredients:
1 medium sized chicken - cleaned and skinned - about 2 lbs
1 cup yoghurt well beaten
1 tspn of garam masala
Cumin and red chilli powder - 1 tspn each
4-6 whole red chillies made into a paste with some water
2 tbsp ginger & garlic paste
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp oil
Li'l butter for basting
Salt to taste
Finely cut onion rings, lemon wedges, and finely chopped cilantro leaves for garnishing

Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Make slits on the chicken to let the ingredients soak in. Apply a mixture of red chilli powder, half of the lemon juice and salt to the chicken and keep aside for about 45 mins. Whisk the yoghurt in a bowl and combine the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and rub this marinade well into the chicken and refrigerate preferably overnight or at least for four hours. Remember you want this to turn out delicious :)

Skewer the chicken and barbeque it in a traditional hot clay oven (Tandoor) if you're lucky and have one or on an open hot grill for about 12-15 minutes or till the chicken is almost done on all the sides. Baste the chicken with butter and roast for another 3 mins. Thats it. Garnish with onion rings, lemon wedges, and finely chopped cilantro.

I'm sure this wasn't as hard or tiring as it first seemed to be. Savor it - chomp chomp :)`