Tandoori Chicken
Zed Marke, Moksa, Berlin
“Beyond every legend is a story…
There was once a man named Kundan Lal Gujral, born to the early 1900s. Growing up, he made food for the masses in an area called Peshawar, formally India - now Pakistan. This man had the crazy idea to use what was normally a method for making bread inside a Tandoor earthen oven, to cook chicken.
He took his concept to Delhi and made it big there, winning the hearts of everyone who tasted his legendary recipe. Much of this traditional recipe has been lost over time and nowadays it’s been modernized to accommodate industry-based products and ideas, but its roots still trace back to the past and to the heart of the idea.”
RECIPE
Here it is, a long forgotten traditional recipe for Tandoori Chicken. To understand it, we must forget today's standards and appreciate the workings of bacteria which isn’t our enemy in this case, but instead our little helper.
Everyone fears chicken in its raw state because of what its potentially dangerous bacteria could do to our bodies. Traditionally, this was treated with a pickling salt to kill off bad bacteria and prevent its growth. Pickling salt also changes the protein structure of the animal so that when we cook it later, it loses less water and is more juicy as a result!
With the bacterial enemies gone, the chicken then needs time to marinate for a couple of weeks so that the salt is fully able to enter the proteins. The marinade is applied using as little fat as possible, this to make sure that the molecules from marinade ingredients such as pepper are able to travel the full 3mm distance, into the proteins of a chicken thigh. For the marinade yogurt is great, some spices as well and not too much salt! Enough salt has been added to the meat already! It’s best to keep the animal vacuumed during this period of marination so that the combination of air and water doesn’t produce a mould which, although still edible, would alter the flavor. We definitely don’t want black or grey spores either!
Next, it’s time for the meat to go on the BBQ. It’s important not to overdo it at this point - most bacteria is dead by 60°C and the protein goes through its most important stage of transformation whilst cooking. No one wants dry chicken and once the bacteria is dead, the water within the bird has been preserved, as has the flavor and the product is cooked.
Serve it while it's hot and flawless!