Tandoori Chicken With Tomato, Cucumber and Coriander Salad

Preparation Time: 20 minutes plus 6 hours marinating time
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4 people

With the use of soya yoghurt and soya creams, recipes like Tandoori chicken can now be made Kosher. This is an extremely likeable dish and it looks as good as it tastes Like most Tandoori recipes, it requires at least 6 hours marinating time; plan it well and you will be delighted with the end result; pieces of succulent chicken with a delicious curry flavour. I have used Kavannah Kosher products -Tandoori paste that is now available from most kosher supermarkets.

Tandoori comes from the Punjab region of India and is made by tenderising the meat in a yogurt and spice marinade. It is traditionally cooked in a tandoor, a clay oven that fires up to a really high temperature but a grill or very hot oven will achieve similar results when you are cooking at home.

I like to serve this with a selection of chutneys and naan bread and a soothing dip of freshly made raita, cucumber yoghurt sauce.

Ingredients

• 4 large chicken breasts, boneless and skinless – cut in half lengthways
• 4 tablespoons soya yoghurt
• 2 tablespoons Kavannah Tandoori curry paste
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 5 cm /2 inches fresh ginger root – peeled and grated
• 2 cloves garlic – peeled and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1-2 green chillies – finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste

Garnish: 1 lemon cut into wedges

Raita
100g soya yogurt
½ cucumber –cut in half, seeds remove and finely chopped
20g pack fresh mint – roughly chopped
½ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Tomato, Cucumber and Coriander Salad
6 salad tomatoes – deseeded and chopped
1 small cucumber - diced
1 red onion – peeled and finely chopped
3 tablespoons fresh coriander- roughly chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1) Make three deep slashes in each chicken fillet and put them in a non metallic shallow dish.
2) Mix the yogurt with the tandoori curry paste, ginger, paprika, salt, lemon juice, garlic, tomato paste, green chilli and turmeric.
3) Pour over the marinade and leave for 6-8 hours or overnight.
4) Pre-heat the oven to 240 C / Gas mark 9.
5) Lift the chicken out of the marinade and put on a rack in a roasting tin. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes.
6) Pre-heat the grill to high. Pour over the marinade and grill the chicken for 10 minutes turning once until golden and cooked through.
7) Meanwhile make the raita. Put the chopped cucumber in a sieve and use the back of a spoon to press out as much water as possible.
8) Transfer into a serving bowl and stir in the yoghurt, chopped mint and cumin.
9) For the salad mix together and season just before serving

To serve the stylish way: Garnish with lemon wedges and serve with a salad of tomatoes, coriander and cucumber.


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