Know More about the Interesting Origin of Tandoori Chicken
Deliciously drool-worthy and visually appealing, hearing the name of this dish is enough to make us crave it immediately. Famous not just in Asia but also in countries like France, the United Kingdom, and Southeast Asia, this dish is easy to fall in love with.
Served with hot rice, roti, naan, or as an appetizer, this dish is pure bliss as the spicy chicken melts in your mouth and tickles your palate. The process of preparing this dish is quite intriguing. We don’t cook this on a regular gas stove. It is made in a cylindrical clay oven known as Tandoori. Now you see where it gets the name from.
A traditional recipe that is almost 100 years old, this dish has an elaborate process of cooking and requires patience and skill. The first step starts with marinating the chicken in yogurt and spices. This is how the meat gets soft and succulent on the inside. The longer it is marinated, the tastier the chicken will be. Some people believe in marinating it overnight though if you are running short on time, 2-3 hours will be enough.
The bright red color of the chicken comes from Kashmiri red chili powder. If you are aiming for orange, a good amount of turmeric will do the job. Though nowadays we can see some people use food colors to get the right shade, the original recipe of tandoori chicken did not use any artificial food coloring. The spice level of this dish is up to you and it tastes equally good in the milder version as well.
The Origin of Tandoori Chicken
Do you know that the history of baking chicken in an oven (tandoor) goes back to the 16th century?
The tandoor is used to prepare fresh flatbread, which is fluffy and slightly charred. Now, there was a man named Mokha Singh Lamba, who started a small restaurant in Peshawar (currently in Pakistan). Working for him was Kundan Lal Gujral, who handled the tandoori section in the restaurant. The current version of the tandoori chicken recipe with a crisp outer layer was an invention of Gujral.
Needless to say, it became instantly famous and they served it happily until the partition of Bharat happened and Peshawar went to Pakistan. With the restaurant being closed in 1947, Gujral came back to Delhi, in India and opened his own restaurant, Moti Mahal. Dishes such as butter chicken and Dal Makhani also shot to fame along with this crispy and delicious dish. His restaurant is famous for taking Indian cuisine to the international platform.
This dish has inspired many other similar tandoor-based vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.
