Oven Roasted Chicken

Today, I am sharing a healthy chicken fry,which is baked in oven, instead of deep frying.When compared to deep frying, it took time to cook..But never mind, its a healthy fry and too much oil is not required...It tastes very delicious and my hubby love this fry very much...This recipe is certainly my own...I used chicken thigh..You can use drumstick ( chicken leg) too or cut it into medium pieces..We had it last Friday as a side dish for prawns biryani...Oops!!I forgot to take the picture of prawns biryani..Don't worry reader, I'll take the pics and will include the recipe,when I make again...If you don't have oven,don't worry..You can do it in various steps like, boiling marinated chicken with little water till evaporates and shallow fry it in little oil till crisp on both sides..Instead of boiling,you can steam too( Don't forget to shallow fry in little oil, otherwise you won't get crispier effect)...Do try this healthy and delicious baked chicken and impress your family..Let us go straight to the recipe :)

Roasted in oven

     Ingredients

• Chicken thigh /Chicken leg / Chicken leg with thigh/ Cut chicken into medium size pieces - 500 gm

• Ginger-garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp

• Kashmiri Chilli powder - 2 tsp

• Turmeric pdr - 1/4 tsp

• Garam masala pdr - 1/2 tsp

• Black Pepper pdr - 1/2 tsp

• Tandoori/Tikka masala - 1 tsp ( optional) [ Instead,you can add 1/4 tsp of  K.Chilli pdr, 1/2 tsp of cumin pdr ,1/2 tsp of coriander pdr and a pinch of kasoori methi ( dry fenugreek leaves), if having].

• Thick yogurt - 1 tbsp

• Lemon juice / Vinegar - 1 tsp

• Salt - adjust accordingly.

• Olive / Vegetable oil - for greasing pan + drizzling on top of chicken

    Method

• Clean and remove the skin and fat of chicken..Wash thoroughly and drain in colander..Make gashes on chicken,here and there,on both sides..Keep aside for few minute.

• Make a paste of ingredients mentioned above except chicken..Apply this paste all over the chicken pieces ( Marination)..Refrigerate for about 6 hrs OR if you are in a hurry, then keep it in freezer for 1 hr and after that place it in fridge for 15 to 20 minutes...You can marinate overnight too ( keep it in fridge, not freezer)..Longer you marinate, more tastier it will be...

• Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celcius..

• Grease the baking pan with olive oil and place chicken pieces..Drizzle some oil on top of all chicken pieces..I covered the baking pan with aluminium foil,so its easier for me to clean the baking dish,I greased oil on top of it and placed chicken over it...

• Bake for about 25 minutes on one side and turn over and change the temperature to 220 degree C and cook for another 15 mins...When the liquid oozes out from chicken, it indicates done..Each oven differs, so check after 15 minutes each..If you are using convection oven, set it to 'roast' mode and adjust the 'weight' of chicken..

• When you take out chicken from oven, you may find it is cooked inside and outside is not crispy..Don't worry, you can grill or shallow fry it with little oil( or you can use left over oil, which is cooked with chicken)at high flame for 1 second on both sides,till slightly crisp..Don't over fry it for too long as chicken is already cooked..Don't make it too crisp either,otherwise chicken will become hard..

• Serve warm as a side dish for biryani, rice, chappati, kuboos (pita bread)...