Roasted Tandoori Chicken

Here is a roasted version of Tandoori Chicken. I made this for dinner a couple of days back when I was not much in the mood to cook. Even though I wasn't in mood, I had to cook something delicious for my little picky eater and a Meataholic husband. I wanted to prepare something that's easy and doesn't require stirring and chopping. I thought this was a perfect dish for my mood. Just marinating the chicken and roasting it. I dint even bother chopping the chicken. Made it for the first time and it was too good. It's not my opinion but my hubby's. My little one just had this chicken for his dinner. He didn't even have a piece of bread or salad!!!The chicken was really soft and succulent. I am adding this recipe to my favourite list....a real heart winner and will make this to bribe my husband every time I need something...:). One more thing that I wanted to mention is that I am not sure how well the chicken will turn out if at all if you are frying it in oil, because I had tried one recipe for chicken tikka long back that was to be grilled but I fried in oil instead and it was a disaster.

Ingredients:
1 kg whole chicken
For the marinade:
6 tbs thick curd
2 tbs lime juice
3/4 Tbs Cumin powder
1 1/2 - 2 tsp salt
1/2 - 1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp cloves powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
5-6 large cloves of garlic, minced
2" piece ginger,minced
4 tbs vegetable oil
Few drops of orange food colour to get the required orange colour

Preparation:
1. Wash and skin the chicken. Make shallow slits or prick the chicken all over with the fork especially the fleshier part like the breast, legs and thighs to let the marinade permeate through.
2. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade. Marinate the chicken inside and utside and refrigerate it for a minumum of 6 hours or leave it in the fridge overnight.
3. Bring the chicken to room temperature half hour prior to Roasting.
4. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Place the chicken in an oven proof dish, having atleast 2" depth, with the breast side facing upwards. Bake for 30 minutes. Then turn it over using a tongs pouring all the juices in the tray over the chicken. Bake for another 20 minutes until it starts to get browne at the tail tip. Turn it over again; the breast being the top part and again pour all the juices in the tray over the chicken.Bake for another 15- 20 minutes, until the chicken is well cooked. It may take anywhere from 1hr-1 hr 15 minutes for a Kilo of chicken at this given temperature.
We had this Roasted chicken with vegatble salad, curd and Qubz.You can also have it along with Chappathi,poori,naan etc.

Notes:
1. I have used 1 tsp of Kashmiri Chilli powder cos we like it lightly spicy. You can reduce it to 1/2 tsp as per your taste.
2. You can add a mixture of red&yellow food colour if you dont have the orange colour.

Recipe Courtesy : www.about.com