Tandoori oven-baked chicken (Indian)

The Tandoori chicken is a popular Indian and Pakistani dish that takes its name from the oven used to bake it, called a tandoor. It consists of chicken baked in a mixture of yogurt and brightly colored condiments, most often served with white rice and fresh tomatoes. 
It's a light, spicy (but not hot) and very flavored meal. One of our go-to's. Enjoy.
P.S: Sometimes people dilute the tandoori paste with yogurt (1:1) for a milder taste. We'd rather not :). But if you don't really enjoy strong flavors or spices, go ahead. We won't judge :)
P.P.S: For a fresher, more spring-like version of this dish, try putting the meat on skewers and serving it with fresh salad, raita and flatbread, as we did here. :)


Last year: Chicken and broccoli stir-fry with oyster sauce, Gougeres (French cheese puffs with caraway), Hazelnut and coffee chip cookies and Surimi noodle salad with asparagus. 



Ingredients (serves 2):

• 500 g chicken breast (2 pieces)
• 3 tablespoons tandoori curry paste (easy to find in bigger supermarkets, or easy to make using the recipe here)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 200 g basmati rice
• 100-125 g cherry tomatoes

Marinate the meat in the tandoori paste in the fridge for a couple of hours (or even better overnight):

Boil the rice, arrange it on serving plates, cut the cherry tomatoes in slices or halves and arrange them on the edges of the rice:

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C and place the whole bowl with the chicken in it. Bake for 30-35 minutes and take out. Allow to cool a bit, then put a piece in the center of each plate, on the rice bed:

It's done, dig in!