Grilled Tandoori Chicken Recipe

Summer is almost over! It’s hard to imagine, but school starts next week for the girls, so I thought I'd use the barbecue one more time before storing it until next season. I marinated chicken breasts in tandoori sauce (I removed the skin because Lulu's aunt who’s visiting doesn't like it).

A generous amount of plain yogurt is necessary to ensure that the meat is moist. The traditional spices from garam masala are also used (cumin, coriander, red chile and other spices). I grilled the chicken breasts for about 10 minutes and the meat was ready to be served. It’s actually a pretty stress-free recipe if -like me-, you have a ready-made jar of garam masala in your pantry.

Garam Masala Spice Mix Recipe

Garam Masala is often used in Indian cooking. It's a blend of several Indian spices like cumin, cinnamon and turmeric. It takes a little time but it's so worth it. The result is so much more fragrant than the store-bought jars. It is used in a variety of Indian dishes, such as Tandoori chicken, palak paneer, dahls (lentils) and my Tandoori glazed roasted white seabass.

Masala in Urdu means "paste" and garam means "hot", and oh boy, believe me, it's spicy!

Tandoori Glazed Roasted White Sea Bass

Tandoori paste is a true culinary chameleon. In Indian cuisine, it is commonly used with chicken in the eponymously titled dish. But there are so many more possibilities. We just purchased some sea bass for a dinner party, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to marry the very strong blend of flavors in the tandoori paste with the rich, buttery texture of the sea bass.

Speaking of marriage, the idea for a tandoori glaze came to me after our wedding reception menu tasting. It was almost 5 years ago. How time flies! Anyway, our caterer gave us a lot of samples to taste before the big day. One of the options was a hoisin glazed roasted Chilean sea bass. It tasted wonderful and it got me thinking about other "ethnic" flavors to marinate the fish.

Look at the buttery succulent texture of the sea bass. Mmm.

Tandoori Chicken Thighs

You may not think so, but tandoori chicken is an easy and fast meal to prepare. Just marinate the meat overnight or at least for 4 hours and place in the oven. You can also use chicken breast but I think the leg pieces are more tender, moist and flavorful. Your choice of course.