Serves 4
Tandoori Chicken
Red Lentil Dhal
Basmati Rice
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Tandoori Chicken
Ingredients
8 chicken joints (I like thighs on the bone)
1 medium onion. Finely chopped.
6 cloves of garlic. Minced. (or use 5g garlic powder).
A good ‘thumb’ of fresh ginger. Finely chopped). (or 5g ginger powder).
Juice of one lemon
200 – 250g plain yoghurt. (Around 2 small pots)
1 small cinnamon stick
7g salt (1 level teaspoon)
25g Station House Tandoori Powder
Chilli powder to taste. Around quarter to half a teaspoon!
Fresh coriander to garnish.
Method
1. In a large bowl, place the yoghurt, chopped onion, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, cinnamon stick, tandoori powder, chilli and salt. Mix well.
2. Take the skin off your chicken and make 2 large deep slashes on each thigh. This will help the marinade to really get into the chicken and help it cook quicker at a high heat.
3. Put the chicken in the marinade and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for as long as possible. At least a few hours but over-night if you can!
4. Pre heat your oven to 220 degrees fan. Really hot.
5. Place your chicken pieces on a baking tray a get as much of the marinade on them as possible.
6. Get your chicken in the oven and bake until cooked. It should be around 25 – minutes if your oven is hot enough. The pieces should go a really nicely charred and dark ‘almost black’.
Serve with an extra squeeze of lemon and some fresh coriander.
Tarka Daal
Ingredients
200g Red Split lentils
1 medium onion. Thinly sliced.
2 cloves of garlic. Minced. (or use a pinch of garlic powder).
2 teaspoons of tumeric powder. About 15g.
4 teaspoons of Station House Garam Masala mix. About 30g.
Chilli powder to taste. Around quarter to half a teaspoon!
Fresh coriander to garnish.
A good glug of vegetable oil.
Salt for seasoning
Method
N.B. If you are using fresh garlic fry with the onions. If using the garlic powder add to the lentils with the Garam Masala.
1. Put the lentils in a jugs and fill with cold water. Give them a wash, drain and repeat 3 or 4 times.
2. Put the lentils in a large pan. Add around 1.5 litres of water, garam masala, turmeric, salt and garlic powder (if using). Bring up to the boil then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for half an hour. Stir every 5 – 10 minutes to make sure it’s not sticking!
3. As the lentils are cooking, in a separate frying pan add in your good glug of oil and fry the sliced onions until really nice and soft and brown. Keep them on a very low heat and you should be able to continue frying for 20 – 30 minutes.
4. Then add the garlic and fry on for another 5 minutes until incorporated together. This can be switched off and left to sit when ready. This is your ‘Tarka’.
5. The lentils are cooked when they are nice and soft. They should have a thick soupy consistency but still ‘mobile’! If they are too liquid, carry on cooking to reduce. If they are too thick, add in a drop of water to loosen
6. Gently, add the ‘tarka’ sauce to the cooked lentils, bring to the boil. Add the coriander, stir through. Cover with lid & simmer for a few more minutes making sure they don’t reduce too much and become thick.
7. Taste for seasoning. It should be a deep spicy flavour. If it tastes a little bland add a touch more salt and taste again.
N.B. The Dhal will sit quite happily until you are ready to serve your whole meal. Just reheat in the pan at the last moment.
Basmati Rice
In India they say well-cooked grains of rice should be like brothers, close but not stuck together. Think about 75g of dried rice per person.
Rinse and drain the rice repeatedly until the cloudy starch is all removed. Then soak it in a bowl of cold water for half an hour. This allows the boat-shaped grains to elongate elegantly. Cook un-soaked rice in boiling water and it may split resulting in soggier rice.
Measure the rice by volume and then use double the amount of water to cook it.
Bring the pan to the boil. Boil for a couple of seconds, then reduce the heat to the minimum and cook until the water has evaporated. N.B. I have found that different rice requires different cooking times.
Then leave uncovered for the steam to dry out your rice. Now it’s ready to serve.
If you are doing a celebration rice, fry off finely chopped onion and then any chopped veg you like. Peas are my favourite and mushrooms would be popular. Then add in a tablespoon of garam masala and a tablespoon of turmeric. Add in some cold water if it looks like it will stick.
Then mix through your already washed rice and proceed as above.