Easy Tandoori Chicken

Tandoor is a cylinder style clay oven commonly used throughout India, Pakistan and the Middle East. The term tandoori means "prepared in a tandoor". The oven can reach up to 900 F or 480C. It's very impressive, produces the best naan bread ever and is something I'm obviously without in my modest NYC apartment.

 A lot of people use a barbecue as the next best thing and I would if I had a balcony or yard, but am certain that my baking method is just as good and comes out just as unbelievably crisp. In a way I'm happy I don't have such things as my circumstances resulted in a great alternative method. I placed the chicken on a baking rack which sits on a baking dish and waited impatiently as all the drippings dripped- leaving me with the most crispy and tender chicken plus renderings for dipping pita bread or future frying. Fantastic!

Ingredients:

1 broiler chicken cut into eight pieces

1 tablespoon fresh garlic that's been grated to a paste

1 tablespoon fresh ginger that's been grated to a paste

1 teaspoon tumeric

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon chili powder 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

1 cup full fat Greek yogurt

salt and pepper to taste

pita bread

Method:

Whisk all the ingredients together apart from the chicken.  Salt and pepper the chicken according to your liking then rub the marinade all over. Leave for at least 2 hours or overnight (ideally). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a baking rack on top of a baking tray. Put the chicken on the rack and cook on the oven for 45 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reaches 165.  Place the chicken in a serving dish. Toast pita in the oven and brush with the chicken drippings for some extra goodness!