Tandoori Chicken

• 1 ,4-8 lb chicken suitable for oven roasting.
• 1 fresh lemmon.
• red food colouring.
• 1 large tub of natural yoghurt.
• spices.----
• 4 large cloves garlic crushed.
• 2 inch piece of fresh ginger,finely sliced and chopped.
• 4 fresh green chillies ,finely chopped .
• one small onion finely chopped. 1 cup fresh coriander finely chopped.
• Dry spices:
• 2 teaspoons of whole coriander seeds
• 1 teaspoon of whole cumin seeds
• half teaspoon chili flakes
• half teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 black cardamon pod
• 1 green cardamon pod
• a 2 inch piece of cinnamon stick
• 2 teaspoons salt

1. This can be cooked using the whole chicken intact or it can be cooked spatchcock style
2. Either way requires the chicken to be completely skinned and with a sharp knife slice diagonally along the breast and slice down into the leg bone keeping the flesh on the bone..Crush 3 cloves of garlic and rub over the prepared chicken.Put in a dish suitable for marinading and leave overnight in the fridge in a sealed environment.
3. Step 2 involves the preparation of the spices and yoghurt marinade.
4. Firstly take a heavy based pot and heat it up on the stove,no oil just dry.Add allthe dry ingrediants to the pot and heat the spices through.Remove from the pan and grind them to a fine powder.Take the natural yoghurt and add it to a bowl suitable for marinading.Add the juice of half a lemon and some food colouring to the yoghurt and add the dry spice mixture and the rest of the chopped spices,ginger and chillies.Mix everything together in the bowl and refrigerate this mixture for 24 hours .
5. Take the chicken from the fridge ,take the yoghurt from the fridge and pour the yoghurt mixture over the chicken working it into the cuts you have made.Marinade for 6 hours or overnight for best results.
6. cooking:
7. Using an ordinary oven to recreate a tandoor is best achieved by lining the cooking rack with foil and have the oven at its highest setting.
8. Place the chicken in an oven pan on a rack at its highest setting for 1-2 hours.The chicken should be charred but not burnt,serve with basmati rice ,cucumber raita and nan bread.A curry sauce is also recommende.

chicken suitable for, red food colouring, natural yoghurt, garlic, ginger, green chillies, onion, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, chili flakes, whole black peppercorns, black cardamon, green cardamon, cinnamon stick, salt

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/tandoori-chicken-1235051 (may not work)