Tender, spiced chicken pieces in soft flat breads, bursting with lettuce, red onion and a tangy yoghurt dressing, these are incredibly easy to make and are so tasty.
This is my take on tandoori chicken, using a standard (but I think special!) marinade I have been making for decades.
I sometimes make these using chicken thighs or drumsticks to serve as a starter with the yoghurt dressing, but I am partial to using chicken breast to make a fabulous filling for a wrap.
A marinade to die for!
This dish requires only patience while the marinade works its magic. I have made these with about 15 minutes worth of marinading and they taste very good, but if you can leave it overnight to allow the flavours to penetrate into the meat, which also helps keep it succulent, you are in for a real treat.
The marinade for the chicken is made in seconds in a food blender and it packs a real flavour punch – as it should! I particularly love how it cooks on the chicken to form a delicious crust.
The marinade works so well with all manner of meats and vegetables, and it is gorgeous with salmon. Mind you, I sometimes use the marindate itself for a dip in its own right!
Spices
I use tandoori masala powder, which has a lovely flavour and a wonderfully vibrant red colour, and I also add additional spices to ramp up the flavour.
From time to time I add different combinations of spices, sometimes grinding my own once I have dry-fried them to bring out their flavour but I often using ready ground spices which, as long as they are well within their best before date, will still carry a good flavour.
Grill, oven cook or barbeque!
Not owning a tandoor oven to get these really charred, they are nonetheless great cooked on the barbecue to get that wonderful smoky, charred flavour. However, you can cook them in a very hot oven or even grill them.
Recipe: Spiced tandoori chicken wraps – makes 4
- 2 chicken breasts, skin removed and cut into chunks
For the marinade:
- 3” piece ginger, peeled
- 6 fat garlic cloves
- 1-2 chillis of choice, depending on how hot you like it
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon caster sugar
- 4 teaspoons tandoori masala powder
- 2 teaspoons toasted cumin seeds, crushed
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- grated zest of 1 lemon
- most of a small pack (about 30g) of fresh coriander: leaves and stalks – reserve the rest for the dressing
- leaves from a few stalks of mint
- 1 tablespoon tomato purée
- 300ml (2 small pots) natural yoghurt
Yoghurt dressing
- 1 small pot (about 150g) natural yoghurt
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon toasted cumin seeds, lightly crushed
- a generous spritz or two of lemon juice
- a few leaves of chopped mint and coriander
- a little finely chopped chilli, optional
To serve
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- a small lettuce of choice, shredded
- 4 small flatbreads or chapatis
- 4 teaspoons aubergine chutney, optional
(1) Put the marinade ingredients into a blender and blitz to a fairly smooth paste.
(2) Put the chicken in a bowl and spoon the marinade over the chicken. Give everything a good stir to get the chicken pieces coated. Cover with cling film and pop in the fridge for several hours or ideally overnight.
(3) Preheat the oven to 200c (fan) and place a sheet of greaseproof on a baking tray. Put the marinaded chicken pieces on the tray and spoon any excess marinate from the bowl onto the chicken pieces.
(4) Cook for about 15 minutes or until a piece of chicken you use as a test is cooked through.
(5) Make the yoghurt dip: mix the ingredients together, taste and adjust seasoning/spicing if needed.
(6) Serve the chicken pieces in flatbreads or chapatis, with lettuce, red onion, aubergine chutney and the yogurt dip.
Phil's Home Kitchen 