Tandoori Chicken Legs (cooked in home oven)

Cooking Time:         1 Hr                                 Servings: 7
Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes                   Category: Non-Veg

Tandoori chicken is a popular Indian/ Pakistani dish consisting of roasted chicken prepared with yogurt and other traditional spices. It is characterized by the red coloring of the marinade and the creamy yet tangy flavors of the yogurt and spices. The name comes from the type of cylindrical clay oven, a tandoor, in which the dish is traditionally prepared. The tandoor is used for cooking mostly in Southern, Central and Western Asia. It is traditionally cooked at high temperatures in a tandoor (clay oven), but can also be prepared on a traditional barbecue grill or in convention bake/roast cycle in our home oven.

I experimented with this dish a couple of times to come up with the perfect restaurant-style tandoori chicken taste and recipe that we can make in our home oven. Tandoori chicken, if served at dinner is best when the marinade is prepared the night before (24 hrs before cooking) to give it the fullest chance of flavoring the chicken prior to cooking. I usually follow this. We can prepare this dish with combo of chicken legs and thighs and it would work well even with breasts, thighs and legs. In this post, I used only chicken legs. Here is the recipe:-

Tandoori Chicken legs

Ingredients
--------------
Chicken drumsticks/thighs - 14
Yogurt - 1 or 2 cups
Black pepper powder - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Ground Cayenne Pepper - 1 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 Tbsp
Thai chilli paste - 1 Tbsp (adds to the spices and also gives rich red color)
Red cooking color - 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Smoked paprika - 1 tsp (optional)
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp (optional)
 

For garnish
-------------
Lemon - 1, cut into slices
Onions - sliced into cubes or rings
Bell pepper - cut into cubes

Preparation

--------------

 

• Wash the chicken legs in warm water thoroughly. Drain out the water and take them into a bowl.
• Now add all the spices, lemon juice, yogurt and mix it well. A small quantity of sliced onions and bell pepper can also be added to this marinade.
• Let this mix marinade for atleast 12 hrs in refrigirator. As I said earlier, the more we let it marinade the more it adds to the flavor of the chicken.
• When ready to took, take out the marinde and place the chicken legs in a roasting pan with foil and touch up any empty spots on chicken legs with marinade. Add few drops of cooking oil over each chicken leg piece.
• Pre-heat the over upto 400C (If your home oven has a convention bake or roast cycle, please use that).
• Once done, place the rack in the oven and cook for about 30 mins. When done, take out the rack and turn the chicken legs, add few drops of cooking oil over each piece again and cook/roast it for another 15 mins or until the chicken is slightly charred on the other side. If chicken legs/thighs are used, its strictly not more than 15-20 mins to cook the other side.
• When done turn off the oven and let the dish be in the closed oven for another 10-15 mins. This will let the chicken absorb all the juices that form on it while cooking.
• Once done, take these chicken legs into a serving plate, sprinkle small quantities of ground cayenne pepper and paprika powder over chicken. Garnish with sliced onion rings/cubes, bell pepper and squeezed lemon.
• The authentic restaurant style tandoori chicken, prepared at your home is now ready to be served :)

Bagara Baingan

Cooking Time: 15 mins                    Servings:  5
Prepartion Time:  30-40 mins          Category: Maincourse - Veg

Bagara baingan is one of the most popular brinjal/eggplant culinary delicacies from the city of Nizam’s and lives up to the expectation of this cuisine. It is a tamarind based traditional gravy dish sometimes served with the Hyderabadi biryani. Perfect blend of tamarind and all the masalas makes this a most popular dish of my city and is perhaps the best eggplant dish I ever had. To be frank, its my most favourite veg dish. Ingredients like peanut,sesame, roasted onions & desiccated coconut and the tangy flavor of tamarind makes it a unique and classified as typical Hyderabadi cuisine.

These eggplants are first stuffed with flavoured masala paste, then tempered in hot oil and finally simmered in fragrant & spicy tamarind gravy slowly to absorb all of it's flavour thereby acquiring the rich and creamy taste. Almost all the restaurants across Hyderabad serve this dish but nothing beats the one cooked at home. So here is the recipe for this dish straight from my rasoi.

Bagara Baingan

Ingredients
--------------
Deep velvety purple baby eggplants: 10 to 12
Ginger Garlic paste: 1 Tbsp
Oil: 4-5 Tbsp
Red Chilly powder: 2-3 tsp
Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
Tamarind paste: 3 Tbsp
Salt: To taste
Coriander leaves: 1 stick

Masala paste for stuffing/gravy:
-------------------------------------
Onions chopped: 2 cups
Desiccated coconut: 1 cup
Groundnuts/peanuts: 3/4 cup
White sesame seeds: 2 tsps
Cumin seeds: 2 tsps
Fenugreek seeds: 3/4 tsp
Coriander seeds: 1 tsp

Preparation

--------------

• Dry roast all the masala ingredients on a pan for few mins and take it into a blender. Now add chilly powder, turmeric and blend entire mix to a thick paste and keep it aside.
• Slit the eggplants lengthwise into four (make a +) from its base and keep the stem intact. Do not slit it completely upto the stem. Slit around 3/4 th of the size of the eggplant. Else, while frying them, the slit pieces will be separated from the stem and this doesn't look good. The eggplant should be served whole.
• Soak the eggplants in salt water for a minute to retain its deep purple colour. Remove them from water and pat them dry.
• Now neatly stuff the eggplants with the masala paste and keep the remaining paste for the gravy.
• Heat oil in a pan/vessel and place the stuffed eggplants in it. Cook for 10-15 mins until they become tender. To check this, poke with a fork to make sure the eggplants are cooked and simmer the flame. Do not over cook/fry it as it will change the taste of eggplants to sour. (Btw, groundnut oil is what I use and suggest to prepare this dish as it gives the rich flavour and makes the dish perfect).
• Now remove these eggplants into serving plate and keep them aside.
• Add some oil (if required) in the pan and add the remaining masala paste. Add ginger garlic paste when the raw smell disappears. Fry this paste gently until it starts to leave out oil.
• Take the tamarind paste, dilute it a bit and add to this masla paste. Add two small cups of water, salt to taste and mix well. Cook until the dish gets to a boil and starts leaving the oil again.
• Lower the heat and gently place the eggplants into this gravy. Simmer for few more minutes and let the egg plants absorb all the tangy flavour of tamarind and masala paste.
• Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

As I said earlier, bagara baingan is served with Biryani as a side dish. But, I enjoy it more with roti, chapathi and bagara rice. However, in any case this dish is a sure winner :)

Coconut Chutney

Cooking Time: 5-10 mins            Servings: 3

Preparation Time: 10 mins          Category: Veg pickles/chutneys
 

Coconut Chutney is a great accompaniment for many South Indian dishes and is fast and easy to make. It is a South Indian spicy chutney-side-dish and condiment. This is a coconut stew mixed with other spices and served with Idli, Dosa, vada etc and even with cooked rice. It is made with two methods: liquid and solid. Generally, liquid Coconut Chutney is served with Idli and Dosa, whereas the solid one, is served with cooked rice at lunch and dinner.
Lets see how it is prepared:-

Coconut Chutney

Ingredients
--------------
Coconut - 200 gms (peel its skin off and cut into small pieces)
Chopped green chillies - 4
Grated ginger (adrak) - 2 tsp
Roasted chana dal (putnalapappu) - 100 gms
Salt to taste

For The Tempering/tadka
------------------------------
Mustard seeds (rai/sarson) - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Red chilli, broken into pieces - 3
Curry leaves (kadi patta) - 6-8
Oil - 2 tsp

Preparation

--------------

• Blend the coconut, green chillies, ginger, roasted split gram and salt with a little water into a fine paste. Keep it aside.
• For tadka, heating oil in a small vessel and add mustard seeds, red chilli and curry leaves and stirring till the mustard seeds crackle.
• Pour this tempering/tadka over the chutney and mix well. Serve with idli, vada or dosa.
• Refrigerate and use as required.

Chinta chiguru Mutton

Chinta chiguru mutton/lamb is a dish where meat is cooked with tender or dried tamarind leaves. These leaves are available only in a particular season during April-June. These leaves are considered to have a lot of medicinal properties too. I saw bottled tamarind leaves available in many Indian stores across USA in all seasons. So, those who stay there can prepare this dish any season unlike people here.

Cooking Time: 40-45 mins                      Servings: 5 
Preparation Time: 15-20 mins                Category:  Main course, Non-Veg

It is one of my favorites and I just love this dish. Now lets see how to prepare it:-

Chinta chiguru Mutton

Ingredients:
========
Mutton/Lamb - 500 gms (I prefer boneless)
Tamarind leaves - 100 gms
Onions, finely chopped - 100 gms
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Red Chilly powder - 2 Tsp
Oil - 2 Tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 2 tsp
Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Preparation Method:
=============

• Wash meat properly and drain out the water completely. Now add ginger garlic paste, chilly powder, coriander powder and mix it well. Keep this marinade aside for 15 mins
• Heat a vessel on stove and add oil. When it is heated, add mustard and cumin seeds and when they start to crackle add onions, turmeric and stir them well.
• Once the onions turn light golden in color add the mutton marinade and cook it for about 15 mins.
• Add two medium cups of water such that the dish is completely immersed. Simmer it for another 10 mins.
• Now add the tamarind leaves, salt to taste and mix well.
• Cook for another 15 mins on low flame and turn off the stove. Add garam masala powder and still well.
• Garnish with slit green chillies or coriander leaves and serve hot with plain rice, chapathi, bagara rice or roti etc.

Hyderabadi Bagara Rice

Cooking Time: 10-15 mins                     Servings: 5
Preparation Time: 20-30 mins               Category: Veg

Bagara rice or Bagara khana is a spiced rice delicacy of Hyderabad, India. Bagara means tempering the oil with spices, a traditional Indian practice of cooking to enhance the aroma of a dish.
The most simple and easy to cook rice dishes of India. This dish tastes much better when prepared using basmati rice or a short grain, aromatic rice locally known as Chittimuthyalu (tiny pearls). This rice grain looks like a tiny pearl and hence the name. Vegetarians who do not eat Hyderabadi biryani enjoy this rice more.

Let's see how the dish is prepared. The recipe is as below:-

Bagara Rice

Ingredients
--------------
Basmati Rice - 1 KG.
Ghee - 150 gms or 3 to 4 Table spoons.
Green Chillies - 12 (vertically slit).
Onions - 3, vertically chopped.
Ginger garlic paste - 2 Table Spoons.
Coriander - 2 bunches, finely chopped.
Pudina/Mint - 2 bunches, finely chopped.
Rock Salt - 1 Table spoon
Bay leaves - 3 or 4
Cardamom - 5 to 6
Cloves - 6 to 8
Cinnamon sticks - 3 to 4
Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp

Preparation

--------------

• Take the rice in a bowl and wash it in water and when done drain out the water. Now soak rice in water and keep it aside for 20 mins before cooking.
• Heat a vessel on the stove and add ghee. Once ghee melts, add all the spices, bay leaves and simmer them for a minute.
• Now add onions and cook till it turns light golden brown in colour. This would take about 5 to 7 mins
• Now add the green chillies and cook for another couple of mins. Add ginger garlic paste and salt and simmer it for couple of mins. Still well as the paste tends to stick to the bottom of the vessel.
• Add 1/2 the quantity of chopped coriander and pudina, 1/2 tsp of garam masala and stir well.
• Now add water [Rice to water ratio is as 1:1.5, if 1 cup of rice is used, then water should be 1 & 1/2 cups), close the vessel with a lid and let it come to a boil.
• Simmer the flame and add remaining coriander, pudina, garam masala into the vessel and mix well.
• Earlier, we soaked rice in water and kept it aside. Take it and drain out the water completely. Once done, add this soaked rice to the boiling water in the vessel.
• Close the lid and cook the rice for about 10 mins on high flame. It will be half cooked by that time.
• Open the lid and stir the mixture gently (we do not want to break rice grains), simmer the flame and close the vessel again.
• Cook for another 15 mins until all the water is absored by rice and it is perfectly cooked. Open and check whether it is perfectly cooked, else cook it for another couple of mins.
• Turn off the stove and close the vessel again.
• Serve hot with bagara baingan curry, dalcha hyderabadi, methi chicken or any spiced/masala gravy curry.

PS:- Open the lid on your dining table infront of your family/guests etc just before serving. I bet the aroma it releases will be heavely and everyone will want to savor it as soon as possible.