Tandoori Chicken with Okra in Yoghurt and Cucumber & Mint Raita

[gazza1960]

My Okra this season was a disaster so I was prowling around Tesco and came across their asian section and saw the Okra so it was time to give it a go  !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tandoori Chicken Ingredients

4 chicken breasts
8 fl oz natural yoghurt
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Fresh Ginger grated
1tsp  Fresh Garlic grated
1 1/2 tsps of Chilli Powder(mild or hot "your choice")
1 1/4 tsp Ground Turmeric
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp salt
few drops of red food colouring
2 Tbsp corn oil

Prep chick pieces and cut slashes in meat  and put in fridge.





Mix all remaining ingredients into a bowl....................



Mix ingredients,colour should be pinkish.........!!!


Smother chick breasts in tandoori sauce and fridge for 3 hours.

Heat oven to 240 degrees and place chick breasts in a glass dish
and cook for 25 mins.

This will give you enough time to prep and cook the other parts of the dish.

Okra in Yoghurt Ingredients

500g Fresh  okra
3 tblsps sunflower cooking oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp onion seeds
2 large onions
2 large tomatos
2 tsps Ground coriander
1 tsp Ground cumin powder
¾ tsp Ground turmeric powder
½ tsp Ground  chilli powder (mild or hot)
3 tblsps yogurt
salt to taste
Chopped fresh coriander to garnish


Top and tail Okra and cut into 1" pieces
chop toms into small pieces
slice onions

Heat oil in pan on med heat and frazzle cumin and onion seeds,once they stop popping their heads off add the onions and cook till light brown
now add all the dry spices and cook for 3 mins.

Now add the Okra making sure you cover them in the spiced oil and fry for a further 4 mins.

Now add the toms yoghurt and salt,and cook thru till the Okra is soft.


Nearly ready...................

meantime knock up a cooling Cucumber  Mint Raita

250ml/8fl oz natural yoghurt

½ cucumber, grated or finely chopped

large handful mint leaves, chopped

large pinch salt


Mix together and fridge whilst other parts are cooking.


Tandoori Chicken pieces cooked with charring.


Serve Spiced Okra in a bowl



Plate up your Tandoori Chicken and Spiced Okra and a dollop of fresh Mint Raita with a baked potato salad and lime wedges.

Enjoy.

Gazza

[gazza1960]

[antipodes]

What does okra actually taste like? I have never eaten it!!!!!

[gazza1960]

When I worked at Heathrow antipodes the Indian guys would bring in meals prepared by their wives and I guess I tried it when it had a right assortment of spices on it and I enjoyed it.
As to flavour, I dont really think it has a distinct flavour or smell "well" to my taste buds anyway,I spose the closest
would be zucchini,I have often had them chopped across and scattered in salads.
Small are best though 3 or 4 ins anything bigger gets proper woody.
It has a kinda crisp outa skin with veins sort of like a pepper inside,its not for everybody though as if you overcook it it tends to emit a kind of gunge (called mucilage)but lets be honest in this recipe there are all sorts of things frying with it in the pan so you cant pick out anything unpleasent....worth noting though dont bother steaming it as ive found it goes all lank and lifeless ....so.....I fry it as it takes on spices very well hence I like it in asian cooking or if your making stews its a good bulking item cos as it breaks down it thickens the fluid.
Im going to grow them in our new Poly and see if we get better results.

Gazza

[artichoke]

I adore okra but and find it has a very distinctive taste, but lots of people dislike it because of the "slime" and flavour.

I love it in Greece stewed in tomato sauce with onions for quite a long time. I buy it and cook it, or order it in tavernas.

Okra has to be fresh and small, as big ones are tough and spiky, and old stock is withered and bitter.

That chicken recipe looks absolutely fantastic - I can't wait to try it.

[gazza1960]

I hope you enjoy it,if your palet enjoys spicy recipes from Greece/Cyprus/middle east you might like the ..........

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/394182.The_New_Book_of_Middle_Eastern_Food

This is the updated version and has lots of recipes from that region.

Yes,after eating it at work I then stumbled over it in quite a lot of cypriot side dishes that are tomato based or stews etc.


We brought these from Cyprus this year,so im going to see if I can get them growing in the poly next season.

just out of interest Artichoke,what do YOU think they taste like..??

Gazza

[artichoke]

Hmmmmm....slightly bitter, very "green", and it's the texture as well....the slime and the firm bits all mixed up. There, I've made it sound disgusting. Maybe a bit like the indescribable flavour of the inside of a globe artichoke?

[artichoke]

PS I have that book, but the very very old version from the ?70s, when I used to use it a lot - didn't know there was a new one, thanks.

I love middle eastern food - and Indian and Thai food (members of my family come from there) - but husband likes "plain" food.

I don't really count tribal food in Oman, which was burnt bits of goat including intestine, roots boiled in cows' urine, a mixture of sorghum and water placed on hot stones to become extremely tough bread, and so on. Very grateful for it at the time, but wouldn't go out of my way to find it again.

(Not saying all food in Oman is like that, they have a very sophisticated cuisine, but we were in the mountains and deserts cooking on hot stones).