Tandoori Chicken

Ingredients

Small (1.5 kg) chicken

Medium red onion thinly sliced into crescents

Fresh parsley leaves

Wet Rub

3 tsp red chili powder

2 tsp smoked paprika

4 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed

1 tsp salt

Marinade

250ml plain yogurt (i.e. most of a 500g tub)

5 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped

1 ½ tsp ginger

2 ½ tsp red chili powder

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

6 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

Few drops of red gel food colouring (optional, but handy if the red chilli powder doesn't make the marinade look red enough)

Method

Marinade the Chicken

Squeeze enough fresh lemon to make 10 tablespoons (175ml) of juice, sieve if necessary to remove any pips. Or just be lazy and buy a bottle of lemon juice from the home baking aisle. Whatever.

Mix all the wet rub ingredients together in a bowl and set aside

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. If you're not sure of the amounts of spices to add, you can dip your finger in and have a taste, just make sure you do this before you put the raw chicken in!

Skin/de-bone/clean the chicken, trim off excess fat and pat dry.

Cut slits into the meat about ½ cm deep with a sharp knife

Smear the wet rub in between the slits and if there is any left over, rub it over the entire chicken. If possible, cover and leave the chicken pieces to soak in the wet rub mix for 2-3 hours in the fridge.

Place the chicken in the bowl with the marinade and make sure all pieces are fully coated

Cover the marinade bowl with cling film and refrigerate for 4-6 hours, or overnight for a fuller flavour

Cook the Chicken

If you let the chicken marinade overnight, take it out of the fridge about 90 minutes before you plan to cook it and let it warm up slightly so it’s closer to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 200C / Fan 180 / Gas 6

Cover a baking tray with non-stick foil brushed very lightly with olive oil

Stand a grill rack on the baking tray and put the marinated chicken on the rack, you can cut the chicken into halves or quarters if required

Bake the chicken for 15 minutes, brush with some of the left-over marinade and bake for a further 15 minutes

Lift the grill rack and scatter some thinly sliced red onion crescents over the bottom of the baking tray

Turn the chicken over, brush with more marinade and bake for another 15 minutes

Serve the chicken garnished with the red onion crescents, finely chopped parsley and slices of lemon

Leftovers

As with most dishes, this tandoori chicken should be enjoyed as soon as possible. If you have leftover chicken, store it in airtight containers in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.