Tandoori Chicken on the ProBBQ

The two lovely ladies who own the restaurant where I work are east Indian and we have an some awesome food going on. Yesterday I was luck enough to get some left over Tandoori so I was quick to get it on some skinless thighs for a nice rest in the fridge. I added some yogurt to the marinade. I fired up the ProBBQ with some Great charcoal lump and a couple hunks of pecan for smoke. I placed the water pan in the cooker but did not add any water. I wanted it to act as a heat baffle so the chicken would not get too much direct heat. It worked real good indeed.



On and ready to go.

Flipped after 45 or so and looking good.



Another 45 o so and filpped again.

A couple money shots and we are good to go.

Holy crap


That looks amazing.

Cheers,

DM

That sure looks great. If I ever go to an Indian restaurant, I know what to look for!

They look sooo good!!

I noticed the probe on the grill, What temp did you cook at?

Roxy, I'm going to have to get down to the local Tandoori tonight now, you've given me a craving for Indian, although theirs won't be smoked over Pecan


Would I be guessing right that you cooked them at 300F with an empty waterpan? Or did you get it even hotter?

Yes I did cook the thighs over an empty water pan. I have modified the Frontier by adding 2 more vents at the bottom so I can get her good and hot. As I recall it was running around 300 to 350ish. Because the cooker is burning so hot the wood chunks flame up real good and burn very clean, this does not impart a lot of smoke flavour. Just a hint, but IMO it is a very nice addition to the Tandoori flavour.

If you want to try something really tasty and you like Salmon. Marinate some Salmon steaks in the tandoori and grill them direct... Just be sure to use some no stick spray on the grill.

looks fantastic
to make one's mouth water

Treegje wrote:looks fantastic
to make one's mouth water

I had a very good friend from Florida up for a visit recently and I made this dish for him with naan bread Riata and basmati rice.. It was a hit.

As you say, the spices and yoghurt do the taste job just right, no need for a smoke also apart from a clean, hot , charcoal burn. A genuine middle eastern flavour! A simple salad and some raita with unleavened bread would work very well indeed and a nice contrast to the heavy smoked meats that we all undoubtably enjoy and would not swap or change for the world.

Gary.

Didn't know India was in the middle east..

A kiss of smoke with massala is superb trust me, one of my closest friends is Pakistani and his wife makes the best massalas I've ever tasted, but marinade a leg of lamb for two days in paste and yoghurt then hit it with a little bit of Alder and it is absolute heaven. The smoke isn't as in your face as some of the general Q you'll taste but that sweet musky flavour from Alder just sits right in there with the spices, doesn't add depth to the flavor just another note that registers on the pallete - mouth watering just thinking about it.

That sound really good steve, i'll definitely try that one!!

Where did you think India was Roxy? lol!

Isn't India a sub-continent of Asia? Is the middle east mor the arab nations, and other countries closely around like Turkey, Israel, morocco etc. But then Pakistan is part of the Indian sub-continent and is that part of the middle east or not?

Hmm I don't know, I always think of Indian/Pakistani food as simply Indian and middle eastern food more in the style of Moroccan or lebanese, you know based mostly around the flavours of lebanese 7-spice but I wouldn't be prepared to argue with anyone because I don't really know

I don't care as long as it tastes good

Quite right steve, India is often termed a subcontinent. My point was not meant as a geography lesson to anybody more a culinary statement about the spiced grilled meat with raita on a chapati, pita, roti, nan, whatever.
This type of food is more reminiscent of the middle east, for example the turkish kebab etc.
The average Indian would not be eating tandoori chicken with bread, raita etc. They would be tucking into a vegetable based (usually) stew, which we would call curry, with either rice or bread or neither depending on the wealth of the household on that particular day.
Pakistan apparently is part of the middle east as is Kashmir according to the G8 and that's close enough for me considering that until 1947 Pakistan was actually India.
Now, back to my original comment about the quality of Roxys Middle Eastern style Indianish chicken:- It looks bloody delicious!!

Good point well made!

Man that looks great!

Funny thing is I have been catering Punjabi and making tandoori for the last two weeks.

Now that is some real nice looking chicken. Great colour.