Tandoori Chicken, or Salmon, at Home (No Clay Oven Required)

There are certain dishes that seem off limits for us as home cooks because they require a piece of kitchen equipment that we don’t—and will never—have. I would count tandoori chicken as one of those dishes. Strictly defined, it’s chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and cooked in a tandoor, a clay oven that’s most often used to bake Indian flatbreads. This is a nonstarter, except for the handy people who decide to build their own tandoor out of flower pots (needless to say, I am not one of those people).

But if we don’t care about being “authentic” (we shouldn’t; it’s kind of a meaningless term, anyway), then we can actually get something pretty close to the original just by using a broiler or a grill. The key is the marinade, which is incredibly flavorful, but easy to put together: Yogurt, garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, garam masala or curry powder, and some combination of paprika and cayenne for heat and that traditional red color (most tandoori chicken gets its bright color from food coloring).

The recipe below is for chicken—most people’s favorite—and also includes a wonderful variation for salmon, which is even faster and easier (serve either with some rice and maybe even a little saag paneer). That said, consider this tandoor marinade a gateway to countless other possibilities: shrimp skewers, skirt steaks, cauliflower steaks, slabs of firm tofu or eggplant, pork or lamb chops or baby back ribs. The list of grilling/broiling options goes on and on, and at this time of year that’s a really good thing. See you Friday.