Tandoori Chicken & Mango Lassi Shake

Though we are still in lockdown in the UK, the glorious sunshine has been our only saving grace. It’s this heatwave that inspired the menu for this week’s LIVE cookery class. A spicy, grilled Tandoori Chicken with a tropical, ice cold sweet Mango Lassi shake to wash it down! Sound good? Scroll down for the recipe.

This is my home-style Tandoori recipe – no red food colouring here! I like to do a double marination that results in chicken that is incredibly flavourful at every bite. Oh and the longer you can leave the marination on, the better! I served it with a sprouted moon bean, lime & tomato salad and it went down a treat.

To wash it down, I shared my delicious and easy to make Mango Lassi shake. I personally find this recipe a lot lighter and more refreshing than regular lassi. If you can source fresh South Asian mangoes – lucky you – use them! If not, it’s quite easy to find mango pulp in the “world” section of most of the big supermarkets these days and that works very well too.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! If you want to watch the live class again, you can do so by clicking here. Don’t forget to let me know your thoughts and share pictures of your recreations on InstaTwitter or Facebook.

Oh and mark your calendars and join me for my next live cook-along class on 12th June. Keep posted to my social media to see what we will be making.

Happy cooking y’all x

Tandoori Chicken & Mango Lassi Shake

Equipment

  • Food Processor
  • Blender

Ingredients
  

For the Tandoori Chicken:

  • 575 g skinless chicken thigh, with 3-4 slits cut into each one I like to use bone in for extra flavour
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt or according to taste
  • juice of 1/2 lime
  • 3 tbsp crispy fried onions optional (usually found in the salad topper section of supermarkets)
  • 2-3 fresh green chillies as per your taste
  • 4 ” ginger cut into small chunks
  • 2 large cloves garlic peeled
  • small handful fresh coriander
  • 3 tbsp Greek yoghurt
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp chilli powder or chilli flakes
  • 2 tbsp oil

To serve:

  • chaat masala optional
  • lime

To make the Mango Lassi Shake

  • 400 ml mango pulp Kesar/Alphonso mango pulp is best
  • 250 ml milk
  • 25-30 ice cubes
  • 2-3 tsp sugar/honey optional, as per your taste

Instructions
 

  • Place chicken in a bowl and add the lime juice and salt. Mix well. If you have time, allow to marinate for 30mins – 1hour.
  • Pre heat grill at the maximum temperature setting and place a wire tray on a foil lined baking sheet and keep aside. Then place the fried onions, chillies, ginger, garlic and fresh coriander in a food processor and blitz until a coarse paste forms (it does not have to be very smooth).
  • Tip this paste onto the chicken. Then add the yoghurt and all of the spices as well as the oil. Mix well and work the marination into the slits of the chicken. Tip – if you can, allow the chicken to marinate for 2-3 hours / overnight as it will allow the flavours to really absorb into the chicken.
  • When you are ready to cook, place the chicken pieces on the wire tray and cook in your grill for 8-10 minutes. It should have a slight char and should be about 70% cooked of the way. Now, turn the chicken pieces over and continue to grill for a further 3-5 minutes. The meat should be white all the way through. You can cook for a little longer if you like it to be slightly more charred all over but be careful not to overcook. (You can also cook this on the BBQ! )
  • Remove from grill. Drizzle over any extra marination that has dropped onto the foil along with a good sprinkle of chaat masala and lime juice.
  • To make the mango lassi, add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour into a glass an garnish with lime zest, pomegranate seeds or fresh mint. Enjoy immediately!

Notes

You marinade should not be too wet – it should be like a thick paste. If you find it is more on the wet side, you can add 1-2tsp of gram flour (chickpea flour) along with a pinch of salt. This will help the marinade stick to your chicken as it grills. 

Tandoori Paneer Tikka

The inspiration for this week’s LIVE Spice Club “isolation cookery lesson” came from my next door neighbour. We’ve had some pretty glorious weather in the UK this week so I decided it would be a good idea to finally cut the grass. It was long overdue (I am not a big fan of gardening). When I got out in my garden I was greeted by my favourite smell of Summer….the BBQ next door.

I decided I needed to eat something grilled and whilst cutting the grass I mentally raided the fridge to figure out what I could have. My search engine of a brain decided on Paneer Tikka Kebabs. I do impress myself with my own suggestions at times.

Soft & juicy paneer, spicy peppers and onions with a crispy charred skin. Paneer Tikka is delicious. The best thing about this recipe is once you have the marinade down you can sub out the paneer to make anything you like. Prawns, chicken and veggies like mushrooms & courgettes all work really well.

I’m assuming you don’t have a tandoor at home (if you do – I’m totes jealous). If you don’t…you can easily emulate the taste of the Tandoor by cooking them on the BBQ, in a hot oven or even, as I did, on my griddle pan on the hob. If you missed the live cookery class but want to catch up and watch, you can do so by clicking here. Also, if you have any dish suggestions for next week’s live class, comment below or drop me a message on Instagram or Facebook. I would love to hear from you!

Tandoori Paneer Tikka

Servings 4 skewers

Ingredients
  

Paneer marination:

  • 225 g paneer cut into 3 cms chunky pieces (you should be able to get about 16 pieces this size out of 1 x 225g pack. I cut 8 pieces super thick pieces which I cut into 16 thinner pieces)
  • 2 bell peppers green or red, cut into 3ms chunky pieces; you need 16 pieces
  • 1 large onion white or red, cut into 3 cms chunky pieces; you need 16 pieces
  • 4 tbsp Greek yoghurt
  • 5 cloves of garlic grated
  • 4 cms ginger grated
  • 1 or 2 green chillies finely chopped, or use chilli powder
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1/2 tsp double concentrate tomato puree optional
  • 2 tsp gram flour or you can use plain flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt or according to taste
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 2 tsp coriander powder
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 heaped tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp cumin powder optional
  • 1 x black cardamom ground into a powder, optional
  • 3 good pinches sun dried fenugreek leaves/kasuri methi, ground into a powder optional
  • 2 tbsp oil any variety

Pickled Lime Onion Salad to accompany! For that you will need:

  • 1 red onion very thinly sliced
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 3/4 tsp sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3-4 stems fresh coriander, chopped (optional)
  • Handful of pomegranate seeds, optional

You will also need:

  • 1 x griddle pan or a non stick chapati/crepe pan. You can also cook these in your grill or on your bbq if you like!
  • Bamboo or Metal Skewers
  • Oil and butter/ghee for cooking

Instructions
 

How to:

  • To make the pickled red onion salad, add all of the salad ingredients to a small bowl and leave aside to pickle.
  • To prepare the Paneer Tikka, place all of the "paneer marination" ingredients in a large bowl. Using your hand, carefully mix everything together. Keep mixing until every single piece of paneer, pepper and onion is well coated in the marination. The longer you can leave this marination on, the better (overnight is ideal!).
  • If you are using a griddle pan or chapati pan – place it on the hob. Brush 3-4 tbsp oil brushed along its surface and allow to pre-heat on a low temperature. If you are cooking in the oven, pre heat at 220c and line a baking tray with foil, greased with a little oil.
  • Skewer on the paneer, pepper and onion pieces. You can use any combination you like – I aimed for 4 pieces of each ingredient per skewer!
  • Once each of your skewers are ready, increase the heat of your pan to medium/high. Once hot, place the skewers on the pan along with 1-2 tsp of ghee/butter. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side and then turn. I like to use brush them with a little oil or ghee when they are half way cooked but this is optional. The paneer tikka skewers should be completely cooked and have a nice char all over.
  • If you are cooking them in the oven, cook the skewers at 220c for approx 10-12 minutes, flipping them over half way through – I like to use brush them with a little oil or ghee at this point but this is optional! If you would like them to get nice and crispy and charred, switch to the grill setting at the end and grill a further 2-3 minutes.
  • Remove from the pan and serve with the pickled lime onion salad or wrap in your favourite Indian flatbread with some yoghurt drizzled over. Enjoy!

Notes

If you are cooking the skewers in an oven and are using wooden skewers, pre soak them in water ahead of time.

Chicken Kathi Roll (Eggless)

The chicken kathi roll or simply “chicken roll” as it’s known as in Kolkata (the birth place of this mouth watering treat) is my favourite street food snack. Ever. When you try it, you’ll know why. The classic chicken roll combo features a soft paratha layered with a fried egg, spicy chicken pieces traditionally cooked in a tandoor and red onion slices pickled in lime. Tastegasm much? (That is a word in the dictionary by the way. Well, The Urban Dictionary – but a dictionary nonetheless). On my first trip to Kolkata I ate loads of these and dragged my family to Nizam’s – the restaurant that “invented” the Kathi Roll. I can’t verify that fact, though what is certain is that their rolls were unbelievable.

When I returned home I was itching to recreate them. The kathi roll purists may note I have made a tweak to the classic (omitting the fried egg to make it slightly lighter) but my recipe still packs a punch and leaves you wanting more. Promise! 

Chicken Kathi Roll Recipe
Serves 4
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Ingredients
  1. 4 Lachha Parathas (Recipe: http://spicediary.com/2017/11/lachha-parataha-punjabi-layered-flatbreads/)
To make the chicken
  1. 6 skinlesss boneless thighs, (approx. 750g) cut into 1” chunks
  2. 4 heaped tbsp yoghurt
  3. 2“ ginger, grated
  4. 3 garlic cloves, grated
  5. 2 tbsp oil
  6. 1 ½ tsp salt or according to taste
  7. 1 tsp garam masala
  8. ½ tsp haldi
  9. ½ tsp paprika
  10. ½ tsp coriander powder
  11. ½ tsp cumin powder
  12. ½ tsp chilli powder or according to taste
  13. 2 tsp tandoori powder (optional)
You will also need
  1. 2 tbsp mustard oil (you can use a normal cooking oil instead)
  2. 1 large onion, finely chopped
Red Onion Salad
  1. 2 red onions, very thinly sliced
  2. 1 birds eye chilli, finely chopped
  3. Juice of 1 ½ limes
  4. ¼ tsp sugar
Instructions
  1. Turn on your grill at the highest temperature setting & line a baking tray. Place all of the “to make the chicken” ingredients in a bowl & mix well.
  2. Scatter the chicken pieces on the baking tray & place in the grill for 12-14 minutes or until fully cooked and remove from grill. (The chicken should be white all the way through).
  3. Heat mustard oil in a pan. Add the onions & cook until light golden. Then add the grilled chicken & mix. Sautee for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Check for salt and adjust accordingly.
  4. To make the salad, combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Taste for sweetness/sourness and adjust accordingly.
  5. To assemble the kathi roll, place a paratha on a plate, top with chicken and onion salad (as pictured) and roll up in foil.
Notes
  1. You can use paneer, red onions and green peppers instead of chicken to prepare vegetarian kathi rolls!
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