That red on tandoori chicken. Cook it at home and somehow it never quite arrives.
Dish Symphony No.1 is a twelve-spice blend in which paprika is the largest component. The red comes from there. There is no chilli in it: the colour appears, the heat does not. Coriander, cumin and black pepper sit in the same sachet, so stirring it into yogurt is all it takes to make the marinade.
Marinate, then roast. Fifteen minutes of hands-on work; the fridge and the oven do the rest. Marinate it the night before and it goes straight into the next day's lunchbox.
Squeeze lemon over it as it comes out of the oven and the skin crackles.
Total time: 35 min
On top of this, the marinating takes 3 hours.
Ingredients (Serves 4)
- Dish Symphony No.1 — 2 tsp
- Boneless chicken thighs — 2 (about 600 g)
- Plain unsweetened yogurt — 150 g
- Garlic — 1 clove
- Ginger — 1 piece
- Lemon — 1
- Salt — 2/3 tsp
- Ketchup — 1 tbsp
- Oil — 1 tbsp
- Lettuce — 4 leaves (optional)
Two chicken thighs come out at exactly four servings. Anywhere between 500 g and 700 g works with the steps as written. Breast works too, but it carries less fat and dries faster, so cut the roasting time by two minutes.
Use unsweetened yogurt. With a sweetened one the sugar scorches first and the surface goes black before the heat reaches the centre.
Preparation
- Trim the excess fat and sinew from the chicken thighs and cut each into four. Where the meat is thick, lay the knife flat and open it out so the pieces are an even thickness. They then cook at the same rate, and the thin parts do not dry out on their own.
- Set the pieces skin side up and pierce them in several places with a fork. The marinade reaches under the skin.
- Grate the garlic and the ginger.
- Squeeze half the lemon; cut the rest into wedges and set them aside.
- In a bowl combine the plain unsweetened yogurt (150 g), the garlic, the ginger, the juice of half a lemon, the salt (2/3 tsp), the ketchup (1 tbsp) and the oil (1 tbsp), then add Dish Symphony No.1 (2 tsp) and stir. Keep stirring while powder is still floating on the surface, until the whole bowl is one colour.
- Put the chicken and the marinade into a resealable bag, work it through from outside the bag, press the air out, seal, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Left overnight, the fibres soften right through.
Instructions
- Thirty minutes before roasting, take the bag out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Roasted straight from cold, the outside dries out by the time the centre is done.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C.
- Line a tray with baking paper and lay the chicken out skin side up. Of the marinade left in the bag, use only enough to spread thinly over the meat. Left thick, it scorches first and turns black before the heat reaches the centre.
- Roast at 220°C for 20 minutes. Look in at 15 minutes and lay a loose sheet of foil over the top if the surface is about to darken.
- Pierce the thickest part with a skewer; when the juice runs clear, it is done. If it is cloudy, give it another two minutes and look again.
- Leave it on the tray for 5 minutes before moving it to a plate. Straight from the oven the juices are still moving, and cutting it at once lets them run out.
- If you like, lay down the lettuce and add the lemon wedges you set aside. Squeeze them over. It is just as good with nothing alongside.
- Taste at the end and adjust the salt. Dish Symphony No.1 is unsalted, additive-free and 100% plant-based, so salt added later shifts nothing else.
On a day without an oven, a frying pan works. Skin side down over medium heat for 6 minutes, turn, cover, then 8 minutes over low heat. The marinade holds yogurt and ketchup and scorches easily, so keep the heat down.
It does not go tough as it cools. To send it in the next day's lunchbox, cool it completely first and pack it with dry, clean chopsticks. Keep the lemon unsqueezed and packed separately and the skin stays dry for hours.
Two days refrigerated. To reheat, cover with foil and give it 4 minutes in a toaster oven. Under direct heat only the surface scorches.
