Tandoori Chicken Mini Pittas

I got into a discussion with an obliging Indian lady whilst exploring the dusty yet charming mountain city of Leh, the capital of the Ladakh region in the North East of the country, about the reason for the vivid red colour of tandoori chicken masala. As it turns out it is the addition of red food colouring and not any of the ten or more ingredients that compose the marinade, therefore making it entirely possible to turn your chicken green and justify your kebab on Saint Paddy’s day for instance, or perhaps even multi coloured on United Nations day, the 24^th of October, my birthday.

As for the mini pittas, it’s always more fun eating food in miniature.

 It is possible to buy the masala powder ready made in most shops, especially useful if you are in a rush, I am not however, and once you make the powder you can store it like most other spices for at least 6 months in a cool dry place ready for your next spicy outing. Also I have found the shop bought stuff tastes near enough makes no difference like mild curry powder, it’s worth taking a little time to reap the flavours.

I like a lot of spice so you may need to adjust your version accordingly.

The chicken needs to be marinated for at least 6 hours, preferably over night.

Ingredients: (Makes 9 mini pittas)

3 chicken breasts, cut into strips

9 mini pittas

1 red pepper, sliced thinly

½ red onion, sliced into thin half moons

1 little gem lettuce, shredded

6 cloves of garlic

2 shallots, roughly chopped

2 green chillies, bird eye, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons yoghurt

4 tspns vegetable oil

Sweet chilli sauce

Salt

For the Mayo:

300ml mayonnaise

Zest of half a lime

Juice of half a lime

1cm of freshly grated ginger

1 clove garlic, crushed

For the Masala:

6 cloves

4 black cardomam pods

8 large red chillies

Method:

1. Brush the red chillies with oil and roast in the oven until dark and crispy.

2. Crush the black cardomams and dry roast along with the cloves in a frying pan for 10 minutes. When done grind down in a pestle and mortar with the roasted red chillies into a fine dry masala powder, set aside.

3. Blend the shallots, garlic and green chillies into a fine paste (wet masala).

4. In a bowl marinate the chicken in the oil, dry masala, wet masala and yoghurt, toss to coat and leave in the fridge for at least 6 hours (use food colouring here to change to whatever shade of the rainbow you feel like).

5. For the mayonnaise mix the lime zest, lime juice, garlic and ginger together in a bowl with the mayo and set aside ready for use.

6. In a griddle pan or on the BBQ if weather permits, grill the chicken until brown and charred and get ready to load up.

7. On a baking tray heat the pittas so they puff up but don’t crisp, about 3 minutes, take them out and cut them down the middle. Line the pitta with the mayo, a piece of chicken, the lettuce, peppers and onions, a dollop more mayo and a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce. Tasty and fast provided the pre-prep is done.