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Tandoori chicken is an amazingly tasty dish, especially if you like food that is slightly spicy. The best part about tandoori chicken is that it is not fatty at all and still tastes good. On top of this, making tandoori chicken is extremely easy, and just about anyone can make it. It is not time consuming either, so busy, working people can easily add this dish to their repertoire of party or home cooking.

You might have seen people making tandoori chicken by putting meat on trays in their ovens, but this is not the way real tandoori chicken is made. In fact, this is nowhere near it.  Tandoori cooking takes its name from the “tandoor”, which is an open clay oven. Food is cooked by the heat provided by burning coals at the bottom of the tandoor. While a tandoor is quite cumbersome to get and use, you can easily get almost authentic tandoori flavor by using a barbeque or a rotisserie. You can also make tandoori chicken in your oven, but by putting the chicken pieces to be cooked on skewers rather than on trays inside your oven. This should make your chicken crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, exactly the way it is supposed to be. Now that you know the secret to making authentic tandoori chicken, here is the recipe for it:
You Will Need:

2 medium sized chickens, skinned and quartered
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
6 teaspoons allspice or garam masala powder
8-10 tablespoons thick plain yogurt
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons ginger garlic paste
A pinch of red food color
3-4 tablespoons ghee(clarified butter) or regular butter.

Method of Preparation:

• Pierce the chicken pieces with a sharp knife at different places without cutting the pieces. This will ensure that the spices permeate the meat properly.
• Mix all other ingredients, except the ghee to form a paste. You can vary the amount of salt or chilli powder based on your taste and preferences.
• Marinate the chicken in this paste, covering all the chicken pieces with this mixture properly and keep it in the fridge. You should let the chicken soak in the marinade for at least 4 hours. However, leaving it overnight gives the best results.
• Take the chicken out of the fridge at least half an hour before cooking so that it attains room temperature.
• The best way to cook the chicken is to barbeque it. However, if you want to make it in an oven, then either put the chicken pieces on skewers and hang them in the middle of your oven or use a rotisserie. If you have neither, then just put the marinated pieces on a greased grill. Preheat your oven for 10 minutes before putting the chicken in at a temperature of 175 C of 350F.
• Once one side of the chicken is slightly cooked (20 minutes), baste the cooked side with ghee or butter. Turn the pieces around when cooked or ten minutes after basting. Repeat the process on the other side. This will not only give your chicken a great look, it will also enhance its crispiness and flavor. The chicken should be done within an hour or so, but the time varies with your time and size of oven. So keep checking the chicken manually every fifteen minutes, so that it does not get inadvertently burned. When the chicken pieces look reddish brown on the outside and can be easily pierced to the bone with a fork, that means your tandoori chicken is done.
• Serve hot with lots of salad and raw onion rings.