Tandoori Chicken with Mango & Mint Salsa and Baby Spinach

Tandoori Paste is basically a mix of curry spices and yoghurt. 

For our dinner the other night my husband the chef whipped a quick Tandoori Paste with unsweetened greek yoghurt, Garam Masala and some homemade tomato sauce (this had garlic and ginger already in it). 

Below is a basic Tandoori paste recipe we have used previously. 

Basic Tandoori Paste Recipe

1/2 cup unsweetened yoghurt

1 tsp Garam Marsala

1 clove Garlic (crushed)

1 tsp Fresh Ginger (crushed)

Chilli (optional)

1/2 Lemon juiced

Salt and Pepper to season

Mix and rub onto chicken or fish. Leave to marinate for at least 1 hour to allow the flavours to absorb into the chicken. 

We keep ours very mild as we wanted our almost 3 year old to try it too. 

Don't be surprised by the fact that doesn't turn out bright orange, we choose not to add food colouring as in other recipes.

Garam Masala is an aromatic spice blend containing cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, nutmeg, caraway, mace and more.

Heres another recipe that is simple if you don't have Garam Masala.

http://australian.food.com/recipe/easy-tandoori-marinade-220044

Mango and Mint Salsa

1 Mango cut into small pieces 

1/2 Red onion finally chopped

2-3 springs of fresh mint finely chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

A mix of chopped capsicum - we like to use all the colours!

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. 

Tandoori Chicken with Mango and Mint Salsa on Baby Spinach

Cook chicken until crispy on the outside and cooked through. We cooked our chicken drums for 35 mins at 175 Degrees Celsius or you can BBQ.

Place a good handful of baby spinach on a plate, top with salsa and use some of the juices as the dressing. Top with Chicken. Enjoy.

Savvy Tips

# The salsa is also great with fresh chilli added to taste

# Salsa great with fresh fish 

# Soaking onion in ice water tames the bite and mellows out the flavor.

# Onions making you cry? Try this ... Peel and chop off the ends, then soak in water before chopping. 

# Double, Triple recipe for larger quantities

# Make the Tandoori Paste spicy by adding fresh or dried chilli

# The flavour in spices comes out with heating. You can if you have time, saute the spice in alittle olive oil and cool before mixing with yoghurt