Guest Post: Cilantro and Mint Tandoori Chicken

It is with great pleasure to introduce you to Tanvi from Sinfully Spicy, a fun blog full of delicious recipes  I love Tanvi's fun style of writing and story telling and great pictures and she kindly offered to share a recipe with us all :-) 

We didn't make it to NYC yesterday the flights got cancelled due to bad weather, we spend the day in Charlotte airport, aw well we got a refund and we will go in a couple of months. Tanvi visited NYC on her blog so be sure to visit for pictures. So sad I didn't get to meet my wonderful blogging buddies but there will be another time :-) a good meal always makes things better and this chicken rocks..........

Namaste! I m Tanvi from Sinfully Spicy.I m an Indian currently living in the beautiful city of Las Vegas, USA for past year and a half. If  I were to describe myself in few words, I would say that I am a mechanical engineer by profession but a cook by heart.Cooking has been a passion since I was 10 and it continues to grow strong each day.
Just to give a tangible shape to my love for cooking and preserve my kitchen antics, I started blogging around 6 months ago. In the course of few months, I have met wonderful bloggers who share the same passion. So much so that few of them will be friends for life now. When Rebecca presented an opportunity to come up with a guest post on her blog, I was more than thrilled and felt so honored too at the same time. Thank you Rebecca.
No point for guessing that I wanted to do a post of an Indian recipe. Initially, I wanted to blog about Indian lentil soup but then I made this cilantro and mint tandoori chicken last week and it didn’t take me a minute to change my mind on what I wanted to post. Thanks again Rebecca for keeping up with me :) So below I present my take on how to turn this classic Indian appetizer into an entree dish for a change.Infact this is a two in one recipe, if you want to prepare just the tandoori chicken, just skip the second part of the recipe.Read on..

Ingredients:


First part: Tandoori Chicken:


• 1 lb chicken drum sticks, skinless
• 1 tbsp canola oil for brushing
For the Tandoori Paste/Marinade:
• 3/4 cup plain thick yogurt
• 1 tbsp lemon juice [preferably freshly squeezed]
• 2 tsp Red chili powder [or Cayenne powder](as per taste)
• 1 tsp oil
• 1.5 tsp dry coriander powder
• 1.5 tsp fresh garlic paste
• 1.5 tsp fresh ginger paste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp dry fenugreek leaves [kasuri methi, available at Indian stores]
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• Salt to taste

Method:
• Wash the chicken pieces thoroughly & pat dry with a paper towel. Make incisions with a sharp knife on thick parts of the chicken pieces deep enough to reach the bone.
• Apply a mixture of one tablespoon lemon juice and salt over the chicken and set aside for half an hour.
• Beat the thick yogurt for about 2 minutes to remove all lumps.Add all other ingredients of the marinade to the yogurt and mix well. Rub this marinade over the chicken pieces. Put the chicken pieces and marinade in a bowl, cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and marinate overnight or for at least 6-7 hours in a refrigerator.
• For cooking the chicken: You can choose to cook the chicken over the grill for 20 minutes till tender or in a broiler.Preheat the broiler to 450 F.Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and arrange the chicken pieces on it. Brush the marinated chicken pieces with oil/butter. Tip the sheet inside the oven on top rack and cook for about 22-25 minutes flipping it after 15 minutes till chicken is tender. Reserve the drippings and leftover marinade,if any.

Second Part: Cilantro & Mint Tandoori Chicken:
Ingredients:
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• ½ cup fresh mint leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 green chilies
• 1 cup sliced onions
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp oil
Method
• In a food processor tip in the cilantro & mint leaves, garlic, coriander seeds and green chilies. Pulse 10-12 times to get a coarse paste.
• Heat oil in a pan and sauté the onions in the oil till transculent. Add the cilantro paste, tandoori chicken pieces, salt and drippings from the pan or leftover marinade if any to the pan along with ¼ cup water.
• Let it cook for 15-20 minutes,lid on.
• Serve with hot steamed rice.
Enjoy!