Oven-baked Tandoori Chicken

I'm going straight to the recipe today.

Ingredients:( serves 3-4)

• Skinless chicken legs - 10
• Tandoori chicken masala - 3 tspns ( click here for recipe)
• Chilli powder - 1 tspn
• Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
• Salt- to taste
• Ginger-garlic paste - 3 tspns
• Lemon juice - 2 tspns
• Yoghurt - 2 tbspns(or greek yogurt- 1 tbspn)
• Beetroot( beets) juice - 3 tbspns ( optional )
• Oil - 2 tspns

Directions:

• Place 2 tbspns of yoghurt in a tea-strainer and let it stand for 20 mins. This helps the whey water to drip away from the curd and leaves you with a thick yoghurt. Throw the water away and use the strained curs in the marinade. For those of you who have greek yoghurt, you can omit this first step.
• Mix all the ingredients together and marinate the chicken for about 2-3 hours or best overnight.( the beetroot juice is a natural source of color and is used to add more color to the chicken. I use it to avoid using artificial color )
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F( 177 C).
• Then place a pan on medium heat. Roast the chicken in the dry pan for about 3 minutes.This is called searing. Turn the chicken over to the next side and roast for 3 mins.( we do this for the masala not to taste raw ).
• Transfer the drumsticks to a baking tray lined with alumium foil .
• Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes in the centre rack of the oven.
• Then turn the chicken legs over to the next side and bake again for 15 mins.
• Remove chicken from oven and cover chicken with additional foil( this is done to avoid it from drying out)
• Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees F( 260 C)
• When the oven reaches 500 F, remove the covering foil of the chicken and bake it on the top most rack of the oven for 5-6 mins. (till the chicken gets a nice char on it) .
• Serve with onions and lemon.

Luv 'n' luc'
Smitha