Tandoori chicken

Serves:

Ingredients

• 500g chicken breast fillets
• ¼ cup tandoori paste
• 300ml plain yoghurt
• 1 cucumber
• 1 cup basmati rice

Method

With a clean sharp knife, slice the chicken breasts into long thick strips.

Place the strips into a small mixing bowl and cover with the tandoori paste and 100ml of the plain yoghurt. Mix through until each piece of the chicken is thoroughly coated. Cover with clingfilm and allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, pour the remaining yoghurt into a small bowl. Cut the cucumber lengthwise and scope out the seeds. Dice the cucumber flesh and combine with the yoghurt.

Place the basmati rice into a small saucepan and cover with cold water until the water reaches the first knuckle of your index finger. Put the saucepan on the stove over a high heat and bring to the boil.

Once the water is boiling, turn down to a simmer and cover the pan with a lid. Cook the rice for 10 minutes then turn off the heat. Leave the lid on the pan and allow to sit for another 10 minutes before serving.

Heat a barbecue grill or frying pan and cover with a little oil. Lie the chicken pieces flat to cook for 8 minutes (you may have to do this in batches if you are using a frying pan), turning after four minutes.

Remove from the heat and serve with the rice and yoghurt and cucumber side dish.

Related Indian recipes:

• Chicken and vegetable korma
• Cauliflower, pumpkin and pea curry
• Fish curry
• Baby balti lamb pies
• Easy lamb curry
• Pantry surprise lamb curry

Serving Suggestions

Note

• This is a fantastically easy dinner to make in summer when it’s too hot to slave over a stove. Just hand the plate of marinated chicken to hubby and point him in the direction of the barbecue.
• I like to make pappadums to serve as well – 1 minute in the microwave is all it takes.
• Tandoori paste is really easy to find in the supermarket. Just look in the Ethnic section!
• I think you should serve anything Indian with a good dollop of mango chutney – you can buy this in the supermarket too and is quite a different thing to the tame chutneys you might be used to.
• This recipe was created by Ella Walsh for Kidspot, New Zealand’s best recipe finder.