Tandoori Chicken Thighs with Tarka Dall

We're having a Friday night eat in for a change after treating ourselves to meals at Hunan and Bentley's this week.  Good home cooking is needed.  Tandoori chicken thighs, my best ever pilau rice, tarka dall, naan and pickles will definitely hit the spot.  I posted the pilau rice recipe a few months ago.  I wonder if Hubby will build me a tandoor?

Ingredients for the Tandoori chicken

8 chicken thighs, with the skin on and slashed to the bone a couple of times

300mls natural yoghurt

Tandoori powder

1 lemon, quartered

4 tomatoes, halved

1 onion, thickly sliced

1 red pepper, deseeded and thickly sliced

Oil, to drizzle over the veg.  

Method

Mix the yoghurt and tandoori powder to gather in a bowl following the instructions on the packet.  Place the thighs into an oven proof dish and pour over the spice mix making sure it gets into every nook and cranny.  Leave it to marinade in the fridge covered, for at least an hour but longer if you can.  

Heat the oven as high as it will go and then put the chicken pieces onto a rack and into the oven.  Turn every 10 minutes. Cook for 30 minutes until cooked through with toasty edges.  In a separate dish, cook the onion, pepper and tomatoes with a little oil.  Serve with the lemon wedges and roasted vegetables, dall and naan. 

Ingredients

150g red lentils

½ tsp turmeric

3 fat garlic cloves, grated into a paste

Thumb sized piece of fresh root ginger, peeled weight, grated into a paste

Salt, to taste

A handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves

For the tarka:

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 rounded tbsp butter

2–4 dried red chillies

1 rounded tsp cumin seeds

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 small tomatoes, chopped

½–¾ tsp garam masala, or to taste

Method

Wash the lentils in several changes of water. Place the lentils and 1 litre of water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil, skimming off any residue that forms. Add the turmeric, garlic, ginger and a little salt. Simmer, covered, for 40 minutes, giving the pot an occasional stir.

After the lentils have been cooking for about 30 minutes, heat the oil and butter for the tarka. Add the whole dried chillies and cumin seeds and, once they have browned, add the onion; sauté until well-browned. Add the tomatoes, garam masala and a little more salt and sauté until the masala releases oil, around 10 minutes. Pour some of the lentils into this pan, to release the cooked on spices, then pour everything back into the lentils.

Cook for another 10 minutes, mashing some of the lentils on the side of the pan to make the textured dhal. Add a little water if the lentils are too thick and also because it will thicken further as it cools. Taste, adjust the seasoning and serve scattered with the chopped coriander.