Grilled Chicken Tandoori

Original Recipe: http://bit.ly/18z18S5

When D. said she wanted Indian for dinner, my mind immediately jumped to the main course. I wanted my side dishes to be curry-based, so I wanted something different for the central dish. After surfing through my Allrecipes app (my favorite place to start for recipe ideas), I settled on Chicken Tandoori. I obviously don’t have a Tandoor oven in my house, but grilling seemed to be a good substitution. The problem was that we only have a little grill, and we were making a LOT of chicken. Over six pounds worth, to be somewhat precise. To the comments! Many people mentioned broiling or just baking their chicken in the oven, but I definitely wanted that grilled crusty skin. My solution was to grill the chicken for a couple minutes on each side, then throw it all in a 350-degree oven for a half hour to finish cooking. It was perfect. It was juicy. It was flavorful. It was delicious.

Substitutions:

1. Added 1/4 tsp of ground turmeric for more yellow color.

2. Added 1 tsp of cayenne because SPICE.

3. Used both chicken drumsticks and thighs.

4. Used regular salt instead of kosher. Cut measurement by a half-teaspoon.

5. Used ground ginger because my store was out of fresh. Cut measurement in half.

6. Combined grilling and baking to make up for our tiny grill.

Final Result Impressions: 

Using a combination of grilling and cooking was definitely the way to go. If we had just grilled everything, it would have taken forever, and there would have been no guarantee that everything would have been cooked properly. Though a chunk of skin was lost here and there, we still had much crispy, yummy skin to enjoy.

Cost v. Outcome
Ingredients
◦2 (6 ounce) containers plain yogurt…… 2 containers of Greek yogurt~ $2
◦1.5 teaspoons salt…………………………….Had on-hand, 1 tub ~ $3
◦1 teaspoon black pepper…………………..Whole Malabar Indian Black Peppercorns, 4oz bag ~ $5
◦1/2 teaspoon ground cloves……………..Had on-hand, .25 cup jar~ $5
◦1 tablespoons ground ginger……………..Had on-hand, .25 cup jar ~ $5
◦3 cloves garlic, minced…………………….Had on-hand, 5 bulbs ~ $3
◦4 teaspoons paprika……………………….Had on-hand, 4oz. bag~ $5
◦2 teaspoons ground cumin……………..Had on-hand, 1 jar ~ $6
◦2 teaspoons ground cinnamon…………Had on-hand, .25 cup jar ~ $4
◦2 teaspoons ground coriande……………Had on-hand, 4oz. bag ~ $5
◦8 chicken quarters………………………….6 pounds ~ $10

Yields: 8 thighs and 8 drumsticks

This is not a cheap recipe to make if you don’t have the spices on-hand. I have D. and J. to thank for the money needed to purchase the spices for this and the curried sides I made. I buy all my spices at Penzey’s (www.penzeys.com), because they’re higher quality than store-bought, and always end up being cheaper. Now that I have the spices, though, I will definitely make this again.

BBQ Chicken Cupcakes

Original Recipe: http://snappygourmet.com/2012/05/17/bbq-cupcakes/

This past Sunday, my gentleman (S.) and I were feeling lazy, and neither of us wanted to cook anything to labor-intensive. After tooling around on Stumbleupon for a while, I came across a page dedicated to savory cupcakes. The idea intrigued me, and I especially liked the idea of meatloaf cakes with mashed potato frosting. However, S. and I had had beef the night before, and were having it the next night as well, so meatloaf was out of the question. The above link caught my eye because A. I had cornmeal in my baking cabinet and B. I could easily replace pork with chicken.

Substitutions:

1. Replaced pork with chicken because I had breasts thawed in the fridge.

2. Ditched the pimento frosting. I didn’t have cream chees or pimentos, and S. made a face when I mentioned it, so it would have been out anyway. Replaced it with shredded cheddar cheese.

Final Result Impressions:
These were definitely yummy, but, as the images show, the meat-to-cake ratio was way off. They needed more chicken! Next time, I’ll probably throw the batter into a ziploc, cut the corner, and pipe it into the pan. That way, Ill be able to more precisely measure out each cake and, since I’ll be using less batter and I had leftover chicken anyway, there will be MORE CUPCAKES!

Cost v. Outcome
Ingredients
◦1¼ c all-purpose flour……Had on-hand, 5lbs ~ $3
◦½ c corn meal……………Had on-hand, 1 tub ~ $2
◦¼ c granulated sugar……..Had on-hand, 4lbs ~ $3
◦2 tsp baking powder………Had on-hand, 1 can ~ $3
◦¼ tsp salt………………Had on-hand, 1 tub ~ $3
◦¾ cup milk………………Had on-hand, 1 gal ~ $3
◦1 egg…………………..Had on-hand, 1 doz ~ $2
◦5 tbsp butter……………Had on-hand, 1lb ~ $3
◦1 chicken breast…………Had on-hand, 1lb ~ $2
◦BBQ sauce……………….Had on-hand, 1 bottle ~ $2
◦cheddar cheese…………..Had on-hand, ½lb ~ $2

Yields: 12 cupcakes (though there would have been more if I had piped my batter)

While I definitely wouldn’t have gone out of my way to puchase ingredients just to make this, this is one of those recipes where I just had everything already. Serendipitous, perhaps, but I don’t think it’s too far out of line to think many will have most of these things in their homes.