So I’m on a diet. Now, I’ve never lasted longer than about 4 hours on a diet, so I’m not committing to longevity. Either way, one is forced to innovate.
I like chicken. Dark meat specifically. I think breast meat is boring and too dense and kind of dry, but since I’m trying to be good, I picked up some boneless/skinless chicken breasts and brought ‘em home. And then this happened.
Note: I had this dream about marinating chicken. I kid you not, and yes, I am that lame. But, in the dream I scolded myself (because I’m masochistic like that) about adding salt to a marinade, since salt, by definition extracts water from meat. Um, I think. Anyway, I figured that chicken breasts are dry enough as it is, so why risk it. For thigh meat (which I Strongly recommend), add the salt in when you marinate.
Chicken Tikkas a la Stupid Diet
Prep time: 2+ hours for marinating, 15 mins to prepare
Ingredients
- 2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
- 4-5 tablespoons plain yogurt (or enough to immerse the chicken in)
- 1/2 tsp ginger/garlic paste (or equivalent freshly minced)
- Salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp red chilli (or to taste)
- A teensy bit of green chilli paste (optional)
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
- 1/4 tsp coriander powder
- A pinch of kasoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
- Pinch of black pepper
- 1 tsp of oil
- 1 tsp of vinegar (or less, to taste)
Method
- Cut the chicken breasts into 1 inch -ish strips, put into a tupperware container
- Add yogurt, spices, oil, vinegar and fenugreek leaves.
- Marinate for a minimum of 2 hours (you need the acids in the yogurt, vinegar, etc to break down the proteins – read: tenderize – the chicken)
- When sufficiently marinated, add salt to the marinade/chicken
- Pre-heat the oven to 475F (top burner) and soak some wooden skewers
- Skewer the chicken, grill for 10 mins on one side, turn over the another 3-5 on the other side
- Take out, let them rest for about 10 minutes. Take off skewers and serve with some chilli/yogurt chutney. Or ketchup.
