Tandoori Chicken on the Big Green Egg

Well as it turns out, the Big Green Egg makes a splendid Tandoori oven!

We have made it twice now. The first time I made a marinade I found online here and the second time I used a fantastic marinade seasoning packet I bought at Whole Foods..

I simply added 1/2 cup Greek Yogurt, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1/2 cup plain distilled vinegar and a dash of lemon juice. Marinade a whole cut up chicken for 24 hours and you are ready to roll.

We placed our BGE grill plate upside down for indirect cooking, added a grill grate and raised the temp to 600 degrees. Place the chicken on some foil on the grill and cooked it for about 35 minutes. WOW!! This was as good as anything I've eaten at The Clay Pit.

 15 minutes in

30 minutes in. I have a pug for a sous chef...

I placed it in the oven to keep warm, turned the BGE down to 400 degrees and grilled some fresh naan bread. The whole thing was fabulous.

Naan Bread

1.5 tsp dry yeast

1 cup water warmed to 105 degrees

3 cups bread flour

1 tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

6 tbs clarified butter

3tbs Greek yogurt

I let the yeast rise in the warm water about 10 minutes, then I mixed the ingredients in a mixer, then placed the dough in a bowl rubbed with olive oil. I covered it with a damp towel and let it rise for two hours. I punched it down and let it rise another hour.

I separated the dough into 4 balls and on a lightly floured surface, flattened them into discs. I sprinkled some more salt on them, placed them on the grill and cooked until they were lightly browned, about 12 minutes. I brushed them with melted butter and served. 

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Baking Artisan Bread on the Big Green Egg

Who knew bread baking was so easy??

Easy Artisan Bread Recipe

6.5 cups bread flour

3.5 cups warm wheat or kolsch beer  (110 degrees)

1.5 TBS each sea salt and active yeast

In a mixer, add yeast and beer (it really makes the yeast ZING!), let rest 5 minutes.

add salt and while mixer is rotating on low, incorporate flour until the mix is wet. It will be STICKY!!! At this point you could add seasonings such as chopped herbs or just leave it.

Pour the whole thing into a 1/2 gallon size oiled plastic container. Cover with lid, but don't seal!

About 4 hours later the whole thing will have risen, then it will implode on itself. Seal the lid and put it in the fridge for at least 24 hours. It will last about a week. It freezes well and if you want to make your bread really, really tasty, incorporate a little bit of the original dough into a new batch weekly and the flavor will intensify each week.

Once you are ready to bake, simply place parchment paper on a cookie sheet, lightly flour, add  about 1 pound of dough and form into a tight ball. Cover with moist towel (not terry cloth) and let it rise another 1.5 hours.

Meanwhile, if you have a Big Green Egg, Light her up to 500 degrees with a baking stone. Just before baking, place a tin pan filled with water until it steams. Cut a .5 inch slit with a serrated, wet knife on top of the bread. Slide the bread and parchment paper on it, cover with a turkey foil pan and let it bake 20 minutes with the green egg lid closed...

Remove the turkey pan (the steam is what makes a crusty crust), bake another 20 minutes until the bread temperature reads at 200. you are all done!! For a great video on this, look HERE

Want to really spice things up?? Make NAAN! I simply divided my dough in half, and in the mixer added 1 cup milk, one egg and 1 TBS sugar, let it rest for an hour, rolled it with a floured pin and made naan to go with our Tandoori chicken.

or Clover Rolls...