Tandoori Style Baked Chicken Drumsticks
A baked dish fresh from Tandoor, with its beautiful burnt aroma is a welcome sight on a rainy day. Chicken drumsticks, with its flavoured coating and a beautifully burnt colour, are supposed to have evolved from the Mughlai Cuisine. Mughals have brought several exotic and aromatic spices with them to India. With the combination of the rich Indian Cuisine, the chicken drumsticks have evolved to represent one of the most appreciated Indian dishes around the world.
Although the typical dish is prepared in a Tandoor or an earthen oven, owing to our love for baked dishes and also the unavailability of the beautiful Tandoor, we have switched over to ovens and stove tops to bring it to our tables.
The best part of the dish is that it is easier to prepare and can be made from scratch, even without the store bought Tandoori masala paste. All you need are the ingredients from your cupboards to put an excellent course on the table.
Let us get to the recipe now.
Preparation time – 60 minutes (Including 30 minutes marination)
Level of cooking – Medium
Servings – 4
Ingredients –
Chicken drumsticks – 8 pieces (comes to about 1.2 to 1.5 kgs depending upon the size of the chicken)
Oil – 1 tablespoon (for brushing)
For marinade:
1.5 cups Greek yoghurt (or Hung curd prepared by hanging curd overnight in a muslin cloth)
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli powder – 1 teaspoon (preferably Kashmiri chilli powder for lending the vibrant colour)
Coriander powder – 2 teaspoon
Cumin powder – 1 tsp
Ginger- garlic paste – 1.5 tablespoon
Garam masala – 1 tsp
For garnishing–
Lemon wedges
Mint leaves
Preparation:
Wash the drumsticks thoroughly under running water and keep aside, in a large pan. Make small cuts/slits on the legs for the marinade mixture to soak in.
In a separate bowl, prepare the ingredients for the marinade. Add Greek yoghurt, Ginger-Garlic Paste, Coriander powder, chilli, turmeric, cumin and Garam masala, and mix it thoroughly.
Add this mixture over the chicken drumsticks and gently spread it all over the chicken pieces.
Keep it aside for at least half an hour, well covered and preferably in a cool place, in summer.
In the meantime, take little oil (1 to 2 teaspoon) in a small bowl, and stir in Kashmiri chilli powder or food colour (orange) and keep aside. This is the basting oil, which will give the beautiful colour to your Tandoori style baked drumsticks.
Prepare the baking dish by lining it completely with an aluminium foil. Since the preparation is dry, and we have marinades all over it, a baking dish needs to be thoroughly lined, to prevent your yummy chicken legs from getting charred, or worse, getting damaged in the process of removing them from the oven.
Now, transfer the chicken legs, one at a time, to the baking dish. Make sure to brush off the excess marinade. You can lift the drumsticks and wait for some time for all the excess marinade to fall back on the marinade pan, before picking up the next leg.
Arrange the drumsticks slowly, taking care not to overlap the pieces with one another.
Rush the top with the basting oil (oil + Kashmiri chilli powder) gently, to lend the colour.
Preheat the oven at 240oC. Bake the chicken for 15 minutes.
Now, take out the tray, brush it with a little of basting oil and the leftover marinade, to lend it a juicy flavour. Constant application of marinade and oil will prevent the chicken from getting dried up and hard.
Slide it in the oven for five more minutes, bring the tray out and turn over the pieces. Rub in a little more of the marinade+ Basting oil and bake further for 10 minutes.
Your Tandoori style Baked chicken drumsticks in ready! Serve it hot with mint leaves, onion and lemon wedges.
The mint chutney can be the best accompaniment to the dish. The preparation time should not exceed more than the specified time.
This dish is the best accompaniment for any dinner party. If you are planning to prepare it in a larger quantity, increase the proportions depending on the size or the number of pieces of chicken.
One of the standard yet much-liked dishes of Northern India, the tandoori style chicken drumsticks never fails to bring out the smiles in the faces of those around the table. Moreover, since it is baked and requires less oil, even the most calorie-conscious people can relish it without worrying about the scales.
