chicken tandoori :

Many Tandoori recipes call for meat tenderizer but I omit this.  I was never able to control

its use; most of the time it would over tenderize and make the surface (only) of the chicken 
mushy.  Its omission has no downside in my opinion since if you cook the chicken correctly it will 
be very tender.  There is no substitute for the marinade which is described below….

Ingredients:

The Chicken: 3-4 pounds (approx) chicken pieces, bone-in.  Alternatively, use boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed for kabobs

For the marinade: ¼ cup fresh lemon juice 2 large fresh garlic cloves, peeled and chopped fine 1 tablespoon fresh ginger root, peeled and chopped fine 1 teaspoon ground cumin ½ teaspoon ground cardamom ½ teaspoon ground red chili pepper 1 teaspoon tandoori coloring, or substitute paprika 1/3 cup plain yogurt

Combine well all the ingredients for the marinade and let stand for a few minutes for the

flavors to combine.  Be careful with the food coloring since it can stain your fingers.

Remove the skin from the chicken pieces.  For a traditional Indian look, slash each piece 2

4 times with a knife to create just ¼ to ½ inch deep slashes.  This will give a traditional look plus 
allow the marinade to contact more of the chicken.

Add the chicken to the marinade and coat all the pieces.  You need to let the chicken

marinate for at least a couple of hours in the refrigerator.  It’s ok to let it marinate all day or 
overnight.  Be sure to stir the chicken a couple of times during this time.

After just a couple of hours, the chicken is ready to cook.  You can use a regular oven to

roast the chicken in a 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until it is just cooked through.  It is 
very important not to overcook chicken because it gets dry and tough very soon after it is cooked 
through.  Alternatively, you can grill this chicken on a barbeque grill, basting once or twice with a 
light cooking oil like canola oil.

All cooking times are estimations because your oven and barbeque may be much hotter or

colder than mine.  Please take care to cook the chicken thoroughly, but not so much as to dry it 
out.

If by chance (not likely!) you do not finish all your Tandoori Chicken you can use the

leftovers in a Butter Chicken recipe.

Enjoy!

 from :http://www.suzannesrecipefile.com