Spicy, red, grilled tandoori chicken moves all of our taste buds. It’s always on the menu of traditional Pakistani cuisine. And makes all of us wonder who could come up with such a temptingly delicious chicken recipe that has a blazing hot appearance, marinated in enthralling spices and then smoking grilled in a tandoor (clay oven) on coals.

HISTORY OF TANDOORI CHICKEN
The legend has it, Tandoori chicken was first served in Peshawar's restaurant "MotiMahal" by KundanLalGujral, during the British rule. It is concluded that KundanLalGujral was the first person to try cooking something other than naan (bread) in a tandoor (clay oven). KundanLal was an innovative spirited cook. Who strived to come up with tempting new dishes for his menu to keep the customers coming. In this effort, he tried cooking chicken in the tandoor and cooked them juicy and tender inside while flavourful and crispy outside. Since tandoors are run by coals or flame and their temperature can reach up to 480 degrees F, they served as a BBQ oven for KundanLals's innovative recipes. On Indo-Pak partition KundalLal moved to Delhi and opened a restaurant there. Thus, Tandoori Chicken's popularity spread out further and reached the Prime Minister house. And Prime Minister Nehru, who was so enthralled with Tandoori chicken, made it a regular meal at official banquets. Now Tandoori Chicken is popular throughout the world and its can be found on Intercontinental menus.

WHAT MAKES TANDOORI CHICKEN SO SPECIAL
Apart from its blazing hot colour, which makes it look like it’s just been out of hot flame. Tandoori Chicken is nice and crispy outside and tender and juicy inside. To make tandoori chicken, first Score the thighs and breasts of chicken deeply so that the marinade and the tandoor's heat will penetrate to the bone. The chicken is then marinated with tendering spices and ingredients like lemon juice, yogurt, salt, ginger, garlic, all-spice, turmeric, red chillies, Kashmiri Deghired chillies, red food colour and mustard oil. Chicken is left to marinate for overnight. The overnight marinade tenders the chicken flesh, so when it is cooked in tandoor, the very high heat quickly cooks the meat inside and out, making outside blazing hot and crispy and inside flavourful and juicy, including the flavour of charcoal. High temperature gives the meat a taste you just can't get with any other process.

Eager to try Tandoori Chicken at home, but don’t have a tandoor? Don’t worry you can still make it at home in normal oven.

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