Tandoori chicken with turmeric chickpeas and kohlrabi salad

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Meat mains

Tandoori chicken with turmeric chickpeas and kohlrabi salad

Main Serves 2 35 min
The name of this dish comes from the clay oven it is traditionally cooked in, a Tandoor. We can't hope to faithfully replicate the smoky, fierce heat, but cranking your oven up high will help. It is traditionally cooked on the bone but we have used chicken breast here for the sake of expediency. The chickpeas should cook down into an almost dahl-like consistency. Using the liquid in the tin to cook them in adds to the flavour, acting like a purpose made stock. The kohlrabi has a clean, mild radish-like flavour and serves to temper and cut through the spice of the other components.

Ingredients

  • 30g raisins
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 small chicken breasts
  • 1 pot yoghurt
  • tandoori spice pot, containing:
  • ½ tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp chilli powder
  • 1 large or 2 small onions
  • plain oil e.g. sunflower or light olive
  • 2 tomatoes
  • ½ tbsp turmeric
  • 1 tin chickpeas
  • 1 kohlrabi
  • 30g fresh parsley
  • 1 tsp black onion seeds
  • 1 tbsp dried coriander leaf
  • salt and pepper

Method

Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: 25 min

  • Step 1

    Preheat oven to 220°C/Gas 8. Place the raisins in a cup of warm water to soak and plump up. Peel and finely chop, or crush, 2 garlic cloves. Squeeze the juice from the lemon. Cut each chicken breast, widthways, into 2cm strips.

  • Step 2

    In a shallow bowl add two thirds of the yoghurt, the tandoori spice pot, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and half of the chopped garlic. Add the chicken and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix well to coat the chicken and leave to one side.

  • Step 3

    Peel and finely dice the onion(s). Warm 2 tablespoons of oil in a small saucepan. Add the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes, until starting to soften. Meanwhile, roughly chop the tomatoes.

  • Step 4

    Add them to the onions with the turmeric and remaining garlic. Cook for a further 2 minutes before adding the chickpeas, including all the liquid in the tin. Bring up to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, until most of the liquid has reduced and the chickpeas are soft and almost collapsing. While the chickpeas cook, place the chicken strips on a baking tray. Space them evenly and leave a gap between each one. Cook them for 15 minutes until coloured and cooked through. While the chicken cooks, trim and peel the kohlrabi. Cut it into thin slices. Cut the slices into fine matchsticks. Wash and shake dry the parsley. Roughly chop the leaves. Drain the raisins and coarsely chop them. Mix them with the kohlrabi, black onion seeds, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and the remaining yoghurt. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. When the chicken is ready, taste the chickpeas, stir in the dried coriander leaf and season with salt and pepper. Stir in half of the parsley. Mix the other half of the parsley in with the kohlrabi. Serve the chicken with the chickpeas and the kohlrabi salad on the side.