What precisely is “Indian style grilling”? Is there any basic difference between the ways Indians and Americans grill their meat? To find the reply to these questions, one will have to travel crosswise the globe to India itself. If you were to land in New Delhi tomorrow and take a walk through its packed streets, one common view that will greet you is a string of chicken pieces strung exterior street-side restaurants in a fiery red marinate. A man, usually not mainly concerned about hygiene, in a dirty undershirt, stoops over a blazing hot clay oven. The chicken pieces, skewered and brushed with butter or ghee (clarified butter), vanish inside this oven for a few minutes. They are taken out, turned, brushed with some more butter, and again they vanish into the oven. Five more minutes later, the chef in the dirty undershirt takes out the chicken pieces, plops them onto a plate, sprinkles some spice mix on them, wrings some lemon juice on top and represents it to you, steaming blistering and terribly tasty.
The clay oven in question is called a ‘tandoor’. The chicken dish is called ‘tandoori chicken’. The spice mix is called ‘masala’. This dish – ‘tandoori chicken’ – is frequently called the national dish of India. It is ever-present in the northern parts of this country. Lots of restaurants in each city serve a lot of plates of this spicy grilled chicken dish. A similar chicken is utilized in another national preferred – ‘Butter Chicken’, a dish of grilled chicken pieces in a palatable sauce of tomatoes and cream. The ‘tandoor’ is very diverse from grills used in the Western world. For one, the food is not kept out in the open. Rather, this clay oven is at least 3-4 feet high. Tandoori chicken’, or its different imitative dishes such as ‘Afghani chicken’, ‘Haryali chicken’, or ‘chicken tikka’ are best enjoyed with a very light, very slender flatbread called ‘romali roti’. The chicken is naturally served with a salad of onions and a spicy green chili, mint and yogurt chutney. All in all, a paradise for the palate and something each grilling fan has to try at least once. Best Chicken Roll Dhaba In Panchkula serves up this chicken too, but I’m yet to come across any single eatery that can match the genuine experience.
