Indian style easy Grilled Chicken

Chicken is the family favourite. Chicken in any form is loved at home. We could negotiate for a separate account at KFC, we’re that regular there. My daughter loves KFC’s chicken strips and making an oven baked version of these strips is on my long list of “To try recipes”. Yeah, I know I am not a very good mom by circle of moms standards, I let my kids eat junk food but I think it’s ok if it’s once in a while. Coming back to this recipe, this is by far the easiest, most basic grilled chicken recipe. The marinade is an Indian style tandoori chicken type masala which is simple and tasty.

The key to grilling chicken in an OTG is making sure it’s not overcooked. When chicken is overcooked it gets dry, stringy and chewy. So start checking from the halfway point. You could serve these as starters or as a side with biryani.

Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 40 mins -1 hour
Serves: 5

Ingredients

Chicken – 5 leg pieces
Ginger – 2 inches peeled
Garlic – 7-10 pods
Green chillies – 2-3
Red chilli powder - 2 tbsp
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Lemon juice – from half a lemon
Salt to taste

Method

1.      Clean chicken and make oblong cuts in the chicken so that the masala can sink in.

2.      Grind together ginger, garlic and green chillies to a smooth paste. In a bowl, add the ground ginger-garlic-green chilli paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, lemon juice and salt. Add water to make a smooth marinade neither too runny nor too thick.

3.      Throw the chicken pieces into the marinade and mix well making sure to rub the marinade into the slits in the chicken. Cover and let the chicken marinate for a minimum of 2 hours.

4.      Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Cover the crumb tray with aluminium foil to protect the tray from drippings. You can discard the aluminium foil once the chicken is done; saves you from washing the crumb tray.

5.      Transfer the marinated chicken to the oven and grill/broil for 40 minutes to 1 hour. Turn over the chicken halfway through and baste with remaining marinade. Start checking the chicken from 30 minutes onwards to make sure it isn’t overcooked. Serve hot with cut onion rings and lemon wedges.

Notes

1.      Once the chicken is cooked, if you’d like the outside to be crispier, cook in toast mode for 3-4 minutes.  

2.      Thinner pieces cook faster. So if you’re using breast pieces, reduce cooking time. Start checking earlier. You can use any cut of chicken for the recipe. Just adjust grilling time accordingly.