Tandoori Chicken Without a Tandoor

Method

1. Take the skin off and score deep

   Tandoori chicken is skinless, because the marinade needs to contact the meat directly. Cut three or four deep slashes to the bone in each piece so the marinade gets inside rather than sitting on top.

2. First marinade, 30 minutes only

   Rub in the lemon, salt and chilli and leave for half an hour. This seasons the interior through the cuts and draws out a little surface moisture so the second marinade grips.

3. Second marinade, overnight

   Whisk the yoghurt with everything else. The gram flour thickens it so it clings rather than slides off, and the mustard oil is a genuine flavour rather than a fat. Coat thickly and refrigerate overnight.

4. Indirect first

   Two zone fire at around 190°C (375°F). Chicken on the cool side for roughly 25 minutes with the lid on. The marinade should set into a dry crust rather than run.

5. Blast it at the end

   Move the pieces over the hot coals for five to eight minutes, turning, until you get genuine blackened spots. Those charred edges are the dish. Pull dark meat at 80°C (175°F).

6. Finish like a tandoor cook would

   Brush with butter as it comes off, dust with chaat masala, squeeze lemon and serve with raw onion rings. The butter and chaat masala at the end are what make it taste like a restaurant.

Notes worth knowing

• Kashmiri chilli gives the colour without much heat, which is why tandoori chicken is red without being fiery. It is not interchangeable with hot chilli powder.
• No food colouring. The colour should come from Kashmiri chilli and turmeric.
• A kamado holds 205°C (400°F) with the lid down better than a kettle and gets you noticeably closer to a real tandoor.

Common questions

Why two marinades?

They do different jobs. The acidic salt and lemon stage seasons the meat through the scores and firms the surface. The yoghurt stage is thick and clinging, and it is what chars into the crust on the outside. Combining them gives you a thin marinade that does neither well.

Do I need a tandoor?

No. A kamado or a kettle with a good hot zone gets very close. What a real tandoor adds is intense radiant heat from all sides at once and drippings vaporising off the coals below.