We love meat and vegetables and find that they make a perfect dinner for us. This type of meal is nutritious, filling and yummy – and it lets us cut out the carbs in the later part of the day.
While the combinations are seemingly endless, sometimes we seem to get stuck in a rut with similar flavors. I’d been craving Indian food but didn’t want to make a curry sauce that would make me yearn for rice. So I got to thinking about what I could make instead….
…and Tandoori came to mind. I don’t have a Tandoori oven, but I thought that a Tandoori-style marinade would be a way to capture some of the Indian flavors I was craving. This would also give a different flavor to our meat and veg dinners – a welcome change!
I read through several different marinade recipes and decided that I had many of the ingredients on hand and would just make my own. (And yes, they are displayed on our NEW granite countertops – woo!)
Yogurt and lemon juice are key ingredients as the acidity help marinate the chicken.
While it seems like it may be a lot of work to make this, it’s actually not. All the ingredients go into the food processor. Everything. And then it’s ready for chicken, fish, lamb, veggies, etc. We loved this – our chicken had a wonderful flavor, somewhat tangy but balanced with the sweetness of the curry spices.
And because Sean felt it was important to provide more detail rather than less, I am going to clarify that the marinade was more of a wet rub for the veggies as I just basted it on them a few hours prior to roasting. 😉
- 1 cup plain, organic, low-fat yogurt
- Juice of one lemon
- 3 tsp curry powder (yellow, garam masala, vindaloo, etc.)
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/4 of an onion
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small bunch of fresh cilantro (optional)
- Add ingredients to food processor and blend until combined
- Marinate 1-2 lbs. chicken, lamb, etc. by placing meat in a shallow dish and using 1/2 of the marinade to cover meat and let marinate overnight or at least 8 hours
- Brush fresh, chopped vegetables with remaining marinade
- Roast everything in the oven until desired level of doneness