Spices - Tandoori Paste

Indian grilled meats are typically seasoned with a red tandoori spice paste and cooked in a hot tandoor oven. The main flavour in a ready-made tandoori paste is cardamom, and the red colour comes from mild Kashmiri chilli and paprika. Since cardamom produces a very strong aroma, only a small amount is used. Hence it is sometimes not listed as an ingredient. Instead, garam masala is often used as most blends carry cardamom as well as small amounts of the warm spices like cloves and cinnamon to enhance the depth of flavour.

Main ingredients:
2 T lemon juice
1 T crushed garlic
1 T crushed ginger
1/2 t ground cardamom seeds (4 cardamom pods, husk removed)
2 t Kashmiri chilli powder (mild)
2 t paprika

Additional ingredients or 1 T garam masala
1 t ground pepper
1 t cumin seeds
1 t coriander seeds
2 cloves
1 cm cinnamon quill
1 t dried mint
pinch of saffron, optional

Mill the dry spices and make into paste with the ginger, garlic and lemon juice. Store in the refrigerator. To use, add 2 tablespoon of spice paste to 2 tablespoon of yoghurt for every 300 g of meat. Marinate the meat in the fridge overnight. Cook in a very hot oven (maximum power on domestic oven) for 10 minutes.