Indian Cooking 101 – Recipe #4: How to make easy Indian-style grilled chicken
Indian Cooking 101 – our fourth lesson will focus on how to make easy Indian-style grilled chicken. Consider it a nice alternative to your usual grilled chicken recipe
Objective:
- You will use two new ground spices and mainstays of Indian cooking – garam masala and ground coriander — welcome to the big time!
- You will also use spices you used previously: cumin powder and paprika
- If you have cayenne powder or red chilli powder in your cupboard, you’ll be using that too
“Chicken breast” and “chicken” are the most searched recipe terms online. Most people, including me, are on the constant lookout for new and interesting ways to prepare chicken. Are you tired of your regular grilled chicken recipe? We all get tired of our own recipes from time to time, no matter how tasty they are. Here’s a great addition to your recipe collection and it can be done on an outdoor BBQ or indoor grill.
In this recipe you will marinate boneless chicken in yogurt, which is a routine method of preparing meat in North India, and a terrific way to end up with moist, falling-apart-pieces of blackened, fragrant grilled chicken. My husband Sean can’t help but eat it with his fingers right off the grill.
You will be using two new ground spices in this recipe: garam masala and ground coriander. Garam masala is a primary spice blend in Indian cuisine that is typically comprised of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, and black peppercorn. There are many different recipes for garam masala — you can buy it ground or buy all the individual whole spices and grind it yourself. Today, even major spice brands like McCormick offer a couple of types of garam masala.
Likewise, ground coriander powder is widely available as well in most supermarkets. During a visit to the Berkshires back in 2009 I enjoyed a wonderful New England fish chowder that combined ground coriander with parsnips, haddock, and potatoes — you’d be surprised how often ground and fresh coriander are used in a variety of cuisines.
How to make easy Indian-style grilled chicken
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
- 1 cup thick Greek plain yogurt (make sure you scoop out only the very thickest part of the yogurt — don’t let any residual liquid from the container get into your measuring cup)
- 1 tablespoon ground garam masala
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
- 1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and finely minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 4 teaspoons honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or red chilli powder
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2 small squirts dijon mustard (equal to say 1/2 teaspoon)
- 1 – 1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (one package, which is roughly 4-6 thighs)
Preparation
- In a medium glass bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, garam masala, paprika ground cumin, ground coriander, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, honey, salt, red chilli powder and mix well.
- In a smaller glass bowl, combine the oil and dijon mustard. Mix gently with a fork, but the mustard doesn’t have to combine well with the oil. Pour the oil into the yogurt marinade, and don’t worry if there is mustard stuck on the bottom of your smaller bowl, we only want mustard-scented oil. Mix the marinade well.
- Add chicken pieces to the marinade and gently coat each piece with the mixture. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4-6 hours or overnight. Overnight is even better.
- When you’re ready to eat, heat your grill to medium-high heat (you’ll know the grill is hot when you sprinkle a bit of cold water on it and it hisses). Using tongs, place each chicken thigh down on the grill for 5 minutes. Turn each piece over and grill for another 5 minutes. If you’re grilling over medium-high heat, depending on the thickness of the chicken pieces, it will likely take about 5 minutes on each side, but as always when cooking chicken, be sure to ensure that the chicken is cooked through and no pink color remains.
hi I keep kosher and would love to make this dish is there a way to replace the yogurt with something else in this recipe? perhaps coconut milk? please let me know thanks
Thank you for visiting our blog and leaving a comment! Happy to help out + we wanted to be sure you know there are some kosher recipes on the site as well (see our First Kosher Indian Dinner Menu).
In response to your question, yes you can find a suitable kosher substitute for Greek yogurt.
Two main options:
1. You can use coconut milk — if so, be sure not to shake the can at all; when you open it, the thickest part of the coconut milk will have collected at one end of the can — carefully use this part only for your marinade but spooning it out — your can reserve the more watery coconut milk for use in a different dish.
2. You can use a plain Parve soy yogurt (in addition to kosher grocers, you can find it easily at places like Trader Joe’s). That said, I haven’t done this myself, so I’m not sure how it will translate in terms of the marinade or end flavors. I’ve been meaning to give it a try myself, but do let me know if you try this route and how it turns out.
If helpful, here is a link to a full Shabbat lunch our friends prepared: Kosher Indian Shabbat Lunch
Don’t hesitate to ask more questions, we welcome any and all queries + are happy to help in any way we can!
With best wishes,
Ina
Absolutely amazing. I’ve made this a few times now and it’s incredible. I use boneless skinless chicken breasts cubed. I then marinate them and I make kabobs with peppers and onions and the chicken and BBQ it. So good!
Hello Haley!
I’m so thrilled to hear it! And that you’ve made it multiple times, that’s terrific. I’ve only ever done these on my indoor grill, so I can only imagine how it tastes on the BBQ! If you haven’t seen it, I just posted this 12-minute chicken recipe that I’m addicted to, if you’re ever in a pinch and pressed for time:
https://www.bigapplecurry.com/2016/06/05/spicy-honey-curried-chicken/
With warmest wishes,
Ina
How well will something like this keep in the refrigerator?
Hello G!
Thanks for visiting Big Apple Curry! Good question. According to Foodsafety.gov uncooked poultry is safe in the refrigerator for 1-2 days, and safe in the freezer for 9 months (for pieces) and up to 12 months for whole chickens or turkey. Cooked poultry is safe refrigerated for 3-4 days.
Hope this helps!
Ina
Can i replace yoghurt with something else? I am allergic to dairy.
Thanks.
Hello Annie!
Yes, you can certainly replace yogurt with a non-dairy alternative in the marinade. It might change the taste slightly, depending on what you use. There are non-dairy yogurt substitutes such as Silk (soy-based) and Almond Dream (almond-based) but having not used them myself, I can’t promise the same results as using a dairy-based yogurt (consistency, difference in taste, namely). One idea is to use the same amount of the thick part of coconut milk (don’t shake the can, open it and just use the thick part). Because the other ingredients in the marinade are quite bold, it may be just fine. Assuming of course, that you are not allergic to coconut! Do let me know if you make an alternative version, and of course, how it turns out!
With best wishes, Ina
Amazing recipe! The chicken was so moist & the seasoning was incredible – lovely mix of warm, spicy, delicious flavours. I used bone-in chicken breasts instead of thighs & it turned out beautifully!
Dear Shari! I made up this quick & easy recipe after eating countless tandoori chicken and butter chicken dishes over the years — I’m happy you liked my creation, you’re the first one to make it! Now that you’ve made this, you already have many of the main spices in Indian cooking so you can make a variety of dishes, see my 5-10-5 Rule on the home page: https://bigapplecurry.com/indian-cooking-toolkit/5-10-5-rule/