Tandoori chicken drumsticks with salsa and griddled apricots
Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Laura Edwards.
Tandoori chicken drumsticks with salsa and griddled apricots
Serves: 6
Prep time: 30 minsTotal time: 
See more recipes
Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
494Kcal
Fat
27gr
Saturates
10gr
Carbs
6gr
Sugars
6gr
Fibre
1gr
Protein
56gr
Salt
0.7gr
Debbie Major
Cook, writer and food stylist, Debbie's reputation for foolproof, delicious recipes is second to none. She is renowned for her dedication to seasonal home cooking and her love of all things rustic and authentic. Simplicity over cheffy is her motto!
See more of Debbie Major’s recipes
Debbie Major
Cook, writer and food stylist, Debbie's reputation for foolproof, delicious recipes is second to none. She is renowned for her dedication to seasonal home cooking and her love of all things rustic and authentic. Simplicity over cheffy is her motto!
See more of Debbie Major’s recipes
Ingredients
- 6-8 apricots, halved and stoned
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- warm naan bread, to serve
For the chicken
- 2 x 1kg packs (about 18) skinless chicken drumsticks
- juice of ½ lemon
- 1 tbsp paprika
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 7.5cm piece root ginger, finely grated
- 15 cardamom pods, seeds removed and ground to a fine powder using a spice grinder or a pestle and mortar
- 2 tbsp garam masala
- 250ml natural or Greek-style yogurt
- 1 x 10g tube Dr Oetker gel food colour in neon orange (optional)
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 40g unsalted butter, melted
For the apricot, chilli and lime salsa
- 6-8 apricots, stoned and diced
- 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- ½ small red onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp juice from 1 lime, plus wedges to serve
- ½ tsp caster sugar, or more to taste
- 3 tbsp chopped mint or coriander
Step by step
Get ahead
Prepare up to the end of step 2 up to 2 days ahead; cover and chill. You can make the salsa a few hours ahead.
- Make a couple of shallow slashes into each of the chicken drumsticks and put them into a large mixing bowl. Pour over the lemon juice and sprinkle with the paprika, turmeric and ½ teaspoon of salt, and mix well. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes.
- Put the crushed garlic, grated ginger, ground cardamom, garam masala, yogurt, ½ teaspoon salt and the food colouring, if using, into a bowl and stir thoroughly. Add to the chicken drumsticks and mix well. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
-
Preheat the oven to 240°C, fan 220°C, gas 9. Rub a cooking rack with the oil and rest it in the base, or over the top, of a foil-lined roasting tin. Lift the drumsticks out of the marinade and put them side-by-side on the rack. Roast them in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until completely cooked through, drizzling them with the melted butter 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Or roast them for 20 minutes and finish off on the barbecue – see Kitchen Secret, below.TipSun shining? Get the barbie out! Roast the drumsticks in the oven at 240°C, fan 220°C, gas 9, for 20 minutes, then brush with butter and transfer to the barbecue for a further 10 minutes. You can cook the apricots on the barbecue, too.
- Mix all the ingredients for the salsa together in a bowl.
- Meanwhile, heat a ridged griddle pan over a high heat until smoking hot. Put the halved apricots into a bowl with the tablespoon of oil and seasoning; toss together. Griddle the apricots for 1-2 minutes on each side, until griddle marks appear.
- Serve the drumsticks with the apricots, salsa, warm naan bread and lime wedges.
