Spicy yoghurt roasted chicken thighs

This is another beautifully balanced dish with a lovely combination of spices and flavours. It is a bit like Tandoori chicken but much more subtle without losing flavours. One of the great features of this dish is that subject to your tastes and preferences, simply by changing up what you serve the chicken with, you can end up with Mediterranean, Middle-Eastern or a dish from the sub-continent! How good and versatile is that!!??

 Quick preparation and easy to cook. The original recipe that I came across had skin on thighs but I prefer skinless and you will still get beautifully browned chicken thighs to serve! Don’t panic if the sauce curdles a bit, it will still be great to go!

 The base recipe was in the Dish magazine a couple of years ago and I have very slightly tweaked it. Even if you are cooking for two, suggest that you cook the full recipe and enjoy the dish the next day or day after

 Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups thick plain yoghurt

2- 3 heaped tsps each smoked paprika and ground cumin – I like to be generous with flavour! If you want a more subtle flavour go 2

1 1/2 tsps ground turmeric

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp chilli flakes, less it you want it mild

6 tbs olive oil

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs/ approx. 1 kg

Salt and cracked pepper

Lemon wedges to serve

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan bake
2. Whisk the yoghurt with all the remaining ingredients (apart from the chicken) in a large bowl and season generously with the salt and pepper
3. Add the chicken thighs and turn to fully coat in the yoghurt mixture. Place on a lined oven baking tray, leaving a little space between each one so they roast but don’t steam
4. Roast for around 40 minutes until browned and fully cooked – cooking time will depend on the size of the chicken thighs
5. Serve with lemon wedges

 To serve

 Couple of options:

• With quinoa or quinoa/rice and a green vegetable such as broccolini or beans. This is how we accompany the chicken
• With couscous tossed with currants, chopped coriander and roasted almonds
• With basmati rice and yoghurt combined with crushed garlic and chopped mint

Serves 4