For tandoori and kebabs, put the lime on the meat first, not in the yogurt, says a chef

Many home cooks making tandoori chicken or kebabs make one mistake: they squeeze lime juice into the yogurt while preparing the marinade. Mobasir Hasan, a chef with long experience at a well-known Kolkata hotel chain, told Anandabazar that this is where it goes wrong; the lime should go on first, separately.

Rubbing salt and lime juice into the meat half an hour ahead lets the spices take better and improves the taste, he says. Lime mixed into the yogurt can thin the marinade so that it no longer clings to the meat.

The second trick is the yogurt itself. It should be drained until it is quite dry, so that with the ginger, garlic and spices it sticks properly to the meat. Whether tandoori or kebab, the meat then turns out crisp outside and tender inside.

The spices depend on the dish: tandoori masala for tandoori chicken, and thick milk skin or cream for malai kebab. The rest varies, but the rule for the lime stays the same: right at the start.

For anyone cooking at home for a holiday gathering instead of ordering in, he says, this small step can make a real difference to the taste.

Photo: marinated tandoori chicken pieces. Photo: Miansari66 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

Source: Anandabazar