15 January 2009

Tandoori Chicken with Mashed Chickpeas

Tandoori Chicken with Mashed Chickpeas


I am sure that you are all aware of how generous our fellow food bloggers are. Not only are they generous with their support, heartfelt actions and encouraging comments, but, sometimes there are bonuses involved as well. I have been the recipient of not 1 but 5 books. Just before Christmas I won Rachel Ray's latest venture the Big Orange Book. This book was generously contributed by one of the Canadian Food Network blogs Bazarre .

In my almost 2 years of blogging I have come across many interesting bloggers. One of these would be Cynthia at Diary of a Glad Housewife . Cynthia blogs, cooks and shares her life from Utah in the States. The name "Utah" is derived from the "Ute Indian" language, meaning "people of the mountains". We are both members of the talented group the Barefoot Bloggers which is how we "met". We both received the same cookbook for Christmas, so, decided to collaborate and post a recipe from the book on the same day. Rachael’s Big Orange Book is the ultimate resource for busy cooks. Need kitchen inspiration? It’s all here and it’s all new--and bigger than ever! No matter what you think of RR she does have some good recipes for home cooked and comforting meals. So here Cynthia and I find ourselves cooking Rachel Ray instead of the Barefoot Contessa.



It was hard to choose just one recipe from the book. Previously this week I prepared this dish. This is what I came up with to serve my family this time around. It was easy and quick to prepare in RR style. It did have that Tandoori flavour which usually requires overnight marinating in the yogurt sauce for juicy and tender chicken. This dish would benefit from tenderizing the chicken overnight but it didn't lack in flavour.

**Tandoori Chicken with Mashed Chickpeas & Pepper and Onion Salad**
by Rachel Ray

1 cup Greek yogurt
2 inches grated ginger root
4 cloves garlic, grated, divided
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons coriander
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons plus some for drizzling extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut across in 1/2
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cans chick peas, drained
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup tahini paste
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced or 1/2-inch dice
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced or 1/2-inch dice
Hot banana pepper rings, drained and chopped plus 2 tablespoons juice
Handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 lime, juiced, plus 1 lime, for garnish
4 pita breads

Preheat oven to 500 to 550 degrees F, as high as it goes. Cover a baking sheet with foil and set a baking rack on top if you have one - not necessary but use it if ya got it.

Place yogurt in shallow dish and combine with ginger, 3 cloves grated garlic, chili powder, coriander, paprika, turmeric, cardamom, cumin and 2 tablespoons oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and coat in sauce. Arrange on baking sheet and roast 20 to 25 minutes until juices run clear.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add 1 clove grated garlic. Pulse chop the chick peas in food processor then add to garlic oil and season with salt and pepper. Mash with chicken stock and tahini and reduce heat to low.

Combine red onion, bell peppers, chopped hot peppers, to taste, 2 tablespoons hot pepper pickle juice, cilantro leaves, lime juice. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Wedge the remaining lime, reserve. Warm and crisp pitas in hot oven last few minutes chicken is roasting. Serve chicken with lime wedges to squeeze over top. Serve mashed chick peas alongside. Top the chicken with pepper salad. Cut pitas in half and pass at table.

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author/owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.
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32 comments:

  1. Mmmmmmm... a delish Val! Chicken, chick peas, all these spices... why aren't we neighbours???? Wouldn't that be fun?

    I guess Rachel Ray is as famous there as Karlos Arguiñano is here :D Buen provecho darling!

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  2. Val, it does not get any easier than this. I love the mashed chickpea idea....

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  3. Val, this looks like a good dish for those wanting to try their own hand at Indian.

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  4. Scrumptious and healthy looking! A wonderful Indian dish...

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  5. Eerily I have chicken and chick peas in refrigerator, so this seems like a great plan.

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  6. One of my favourite is tandoori chicken.
    Thei looks really yumm.
    When i make them i add a bit of food red food colouring to make me feel like i am back home in India.

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  7. I have to say, it makes me a little nervous when RR does a tandoori chicken - but if you say it's good....

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  8. My entire family (yep the kids, too) enjoy tandoori chicken. I love your recipe; it has different ingredients than my recipe for tandoori. Those chick peas look terrific, too. YUM!

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  9. Mashed chickpeas... strange you would post this as I just discovered chickpea flour. Coincidence, or one of those things I ought to start paying more attention to?

    This recipe sounds tempting---love the mixture of spices, poultry and other ingredients in this dish.

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  10. Yum! I feel like I'm on Indian food withdrawal lately.

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  11. I LOVE Tandori Chicken. The chick peas look really good too - unfortunately hubby refuses to eat them!!!

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  12. I have never thought about mashing chickpeas. What a great idea to have with a curry. The chicken looks great as well.

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  13. I never had Tandoori chicken before but I know I would love it.

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  14. This is definitely calling my name. I wish I could go to blogger buddies homes for dinner!

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  15. I wondered who won that book!! It's on all my wishlists haha. Those chickpeas look wonderful too.

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  16. I adore Tanodoori...and yes I agree with Happy Cook above. Red food coloring makes me feel like I am in India when I eat Tandoori. Nice post Val.

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  17. I love Tandoori chicken. I only made it once though and it has been a really, really long time since I've eaten it out.

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  18. How nice. I love the mashed chickpeas over the top! Beautiful!

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  19. A wonderful idea with the chickpeas Val...ingenious and easy!

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  20. You are lucky, 5 cookbooks. That's nice.

    This meal looks really yummy. I did look at this book at the library. Lot's of good recipe.

    And by the way, we will move only if we sell the house. Not before the summer because Maxime is graduating this year. So if I go your way, I'll let you know.

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  21. I might have to try this one!

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  22. I love to order Tandoori Chicken at our fave Indian place, but I've never made it at home. This looks really delicious, and doesn't looks too complicated. I must try it.

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  23. Oh gosh that looks so delicious! My kind of meal.

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  24. I'm intrigued by this Rachel Ray character! She hasn't made it to our shores and whenever I see her mentioned on blogs, she seems to provoke strong reactions!! Anyway, I think this looks like an extremely tasty dish that I'd love to try - great idea to serve with chickpea mash.

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  25. chicken, yoghurt and spices are one of my favorite combinations - looks delicious!

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  26. Looks lovely. The tandoori we get over here is almost always reddish in colour. I've never made my own tandoori - not from scratch anyway!

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  27. I love tandoori--its great in its own right and is a great foundation for so many other Indian dishes. The chickpea side sounds like a good one

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  28. I love this recipe! I am going to try it very soon, a friend has just brought me tandori spices from Jakarta!

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  29. I love lal the flavors in this chicken. Looks great!

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  30. This is one of my favorite types of food, Valli! Gosh, I'm so craving Indian food now...I think perhaps some type of chicken curry with lentils is in order this weekend. Your tandoori chicken looks perfect. And I love the chickpeas too. :-) This is a definite thumbs up!

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  31. This look wonderful Val, xxxGloria

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  32. I don't know why people don't wat mashed chickpeas more?? They are just heavenly! I often do them with lamb, mashed up with olive oil and paprika. Yum!

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Welcome to my home. Thank you for choosing to stay a while and for sharing our lives through food. I appreciate all your support, comments, suggestions, and daily encouragement.

Val

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