Nadiya Hussain’s ‘Tandoori’ Oven Chicken with Burnt Butter Rice
Nadiya Hussain's Tandoori-style Chicken with Burnt Butter Rice is an easy weeknight dish that you can have on the table in less than an hour. Packed with flavourful spices, this delicious recipe is a comforting family favourite.
From the book
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Introduction
I never understood what was meant by tandoori chicken, until I realized it was the type of oven – a tandoor – they were talking about. So I have made the same dish my dad used to serve up in his restaurant, but using our oven at home. It has a similar red hue, but not so red that you’ll question whether you will ever sleep again! It’s served with an onion salad and burnt butter rice.
Ingredients
| For the chicken: | |
| 4 | skinless chicken thighs, flesh slashed |
| 4 | skinless chicken breasts, flesh slashed |
| 2 tbsp | ghee, melted |
| 4 tbsp | tandoori spice mix (see below) |
| For the sauce: | |
| 400g | yoghurt |
| 5 tbsp | chickpea flour |
| 35g | melted ghee |
| 4 tbsp | tomato purée |
| 3 tbsp | tandoori spice mix (see below) |
| For the rice: | |
| 500g | basmati rice, washed and drained |
| 200g | butter |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| 1 litre | boiling water |
| For the red onion apple salad: | |
| 2 | red onions, thinly sliced |
| 2 | green apples, cut into thin sticks |
| a squeeze of | lemon juice |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| a small handful of | fresh mint |
| To serve: | |
| sliced red chillies, to taste | |
| fresh coriander, chopped | |
| For the Tandoori Spice Mix (makes a 100g jar): | |
| 28g jar | ground ginger |
| 41g jar | ground cumin |
| 34g jar | ground coriander |
| 46g jar | paprika |
| 40g jar | cayenne |
| 40g | salt |
| 60g jar | garlic granules |
Method
For the Tandoori Spice Mix (makes a 100g jar):
Place all the ingredients in a large jar and shake really well to combine.
For the Tandoori-style Chicken with Burnt Butter Rice:
Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan 200°C and have a roasting dish ready that all the chicken will fit into.
Put the chicken into the tray. Massage the ghee into the skin and sprinkle over the tandoori spice mix. Then bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
To make the sauce, put the yoghurt, chickpea flour, ghee, tomato purée and tandoori spice mix into a bowl and combine.
Reduce the oven temperature to 200°C/fan180°C. Take the chicken out of the oven and pour the yoghurt mix all over the top, then put back into the oven for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the rice. Put the butter into a large pan on a high heat until it becomes a golden-brown colour. As soon as it does, add the rice and salt and stir. Add the hot water and keep stirring until it comes to the boil – when it does, keep stirring until all the liquid has evaporated. Pop the lid on the pan and leave the rice to steam on a low heat for 10 minutes.
To make the salad, mix together the onions, apples, lemon juice, salt and mint.
When the chicken is ready, sprinkle with red chillies and coriander and serve with the burnt butter rice.
