Grilled Chicken Thighs Tandoori and Pita

Back in January I was lucky enough to spend a week in Boulder, CO playing at the Colorado Mahler Festival. One of the best parts of the entire week was eating, and having access to food I would otherwise have to drive two hours to eat. It was heaven; we ate all kinds of food that week and one of our best finds was an Indian lunch buffet. I ate myself silly at that place stuffing as much fresh Naan in my face as I could manage. Then and there I resolved to try to learn at least one good Indian dish.

Since then I've made two Indian curries using two different recipes; one was eh and the other one better, but still nothing to write home about (or write here about). My third attempt came last week from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com, a Tandori Chicken recipe. The cooking method called for outdoor grilling, but since it was blizzarding here last week I cooked it in the oven instead, and it was a hit. Everyone agreed that one of the things that made it taste so good was the smell of the spices on the chicken and in the house.

Grilled Chicken Thighs Tandoori

* 2 (6 ounce) containers plain yogurt
* 2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 4 teaspoons paprika
* 2 teaspoons ground cumin
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons ground coriander
* 16 chicken thighs (I froze half after cooking to eat another time; I also took the skins off and it worked fine)

1. In a medium bowl, stir together yogurt, salt, pepper, cloves, and ginger. Mix in garlic, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and coriander. Set aside.

2. Rinse chicken under cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Place chicken in a large resealable plastic bag. Pour yogurt mixture over chicken, press air out of bag, and seal. Turn the bag over several times to distribute marinade. Place bag in a bowl, and refrigerate 8 hours, or overnight, turning bag occasionally.

3. Preheat oven at 350.

4. Remove chicken from bag, and discard marinade. Shake off excess marinade.

5. Place a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet. Place chicken on the rack and cook about 20 minutes. Turn over, and cook 20 minutes more or until chicken is done.

I should have made Naan, but again that would have required someone to do blizzard duty, so I made home made pita bread instead.

After making this bread several times, I have learned you need to let the dough rise and proof the proper length of time in order for the pita to puff up while they cook. My usual method of "that looks good enough" because I'm hungry and in a hurry doesn't yield very good pitas.

Pita Bread

* 1 1/8 cups warm water
* 3 cups all-purpose flour (I use 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat)
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
* 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water

2. Mix all other ingredients in a large bowl. Add the yeast/water mixture and mix well. Cover the bowl with a piece of plastic wrap and let it rise until almost doubled, about 1 hour.

3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.

4. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. If you have one, cook the pitas on a pizza stone in the oven, 3 at a time. If not, place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas a softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.