Tandoori-ish Chicken

Author Notes

My husband and I both adore Indian Tandoori Chicken and I wanted to find a way to replicate the smoky flavors and high-heat, crusty char from a Tandoori oven at home. Since apartment living isn't really conducive to grilling, I turned to my broiler ( "essentially an upside down grill," as Mark Bittman once wrote) for high heat and to smoked Maldon salt and smoked paprika for that charcoal finish. As a bonus, the paprika naturally lends the chicken a slightly reddish hue, recalling the signature color of Tandoori chicken without the need for the artificial red food coloring normally used in traditional recipes.

I like to use boneless chicken thighs because they take less than 15 minutes to cook under the broiler and stay much moister than white meat. For the marinade, I prefer greek yogurt such as Fage 2%, which is thick enough that it won't make the chicken watery but has just enough fat in it to taste luscious. But of course, you could substitute any cut of chicken and any yogurt you would like, by simply adjusting the cooking time. Just don't marinate the chicken for much longer than a few hours because the acid in the yogurt can break down the chicken pretty quickly. In fact, this recipe tastes great even marinated for only 5 minutes, which makes it perfect for speedy weeknight cooking.


Finally, I won't judge anyone if they want to simplify and use a pre-mixed curry powder rather than all the separate spices. It won't taste quite the same, but hey, it works for my mom, a traditional Taiwanese cook, who doesn't keep as many Indian spices on hand as I do! —graciousglutton