Tandoori Chicken Legs

This is one of the favourite grilled chicken dishes in India. You can also use small boneless pieces of chicken and push them through skewers to make 'chicken tikka'. The tandoori paste or powder used in the marinade, gives the chicken a nice orange colour. Tandoori paste is easily available in Asian supermarkets; but if you can't find it, increase the quantity of the dry ingredients in the marinade and add a teaspoon of orange-red colouring. You can omit the colouring, if desired. Lemon juice and chaat masala sprinkled over the chicken before serving really enhances it's flavour.

Ingredients

12 chicken drumsticks, without skin
3 tbsp tandoori paste or tandoori powder
3 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 1/4 c thick yoghurt
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp each of coriander powder, garam masala, cumin powder
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil + additional oil for grilling
3-4 lemons halved and chaat masala - for serving

Method

Prick the chicken legs at several places with a fork or with the tip of a knife make gashes in the chicken.

Rub the tandoori paste and the ginger garlic paste on the chicken and allow the chicken to marinate, covered in a bowl, in the fridge for 1 hr.

Stir the remaining ingredients into the yoghurt. Add the yoghurt mixture to the chicken and mix well, till a uniform coloured marinade is reached. Taste the marinade. It should be well salted and have a distinctive flavour of ginger-garlic. Push the marinade well into the gashes. Let the chicken marinate, covered in the fridge preferably for 24 hrs or at least for 10 hrs.

Grill for about 20-25 minutes or until cooked, brushing with marinade several times and lastly with oil. During grilling, turn the chicken pieces frequently.

Squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle chaat masala over the grilled chicken.

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