Yogurt Marinade...Oishii Desu!
 

The aroma from my neighbor's nearly daily grilling had me feeling envious. In four decades, I've grilled < a dozen times. When the same neighbor replaced his grill, he gave me the old one, and I decided to to try my hand at gas grilling.

I always been fond of Indian restaurant yogurt marinaded chicken, so I'm trying that today. Last night I started some chicken marinading in plain yogurt, salt, pepper, cumin and hot sauce. Its grilling now, I'll report back after I've eaten.

Reporting back: The texture was great, not dried out. I should have gone a little heavier on the spices, though, as much was left in the marinade. Though I oiled the grill, I was left with a mess.

Are there any yogurt marinade recommendations?

PS...can chicken bones be added to veg waste for composting?

Try this recipe.... I've tried it many times and love it.

Squashed chook with spicy yogurt marinade and coconut and lime raita - Dairy Australia

INGREDIENTS
2 x 1.5kg whole chickens

Spicy yogurt marinade
1 cup Australian natural yogurt
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

lime and coconut raita
1 cup Australian natural yogurt, extra
¼ cup shredded coconut, toasted
zest and juice of 1 lime

METHOD

Using sharp, clean scissors remove the backbone of the chicken by cutting either side of the bone, trim away the wishbone. Turn over the chicken and flatten out by pressing on the breastbone.

Remove the breastbone by cutting on either side of the bone and skewer each half through the bottom of the thigh and neck to secure.

Combine marinade ingredients and spoon over chicken and allow to marinate for at least 1 hour.

Combine the lime and coconut raita ingredients and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Place chicken halves on a baking tray and roast at 200°C/180°C fan-forced for 30 minutes or until cooked through. Serve chicken with lime and coconut raita.

Wow, if ever there was a subject for my wife on flyertalk, this would be it! Unfortunately she is out of town for a couple of weeks, but I'm pretty sure I know what she puts in her yogurt marinade, She uses plain yogurt, a paste she makes of fresh coriander and serrano peppers ground together (with the seeds taken out), fresh mint, ginger (not 100% sure on this), salt, ground cumin and turmeric.

She usually marinades the chicken overnight and serves it with homemade naan, mint sauce and a tomato and onion salad and my "grilling out beer" (Blatz).

We also try marinading the chicken in yogurt and Nando's peri-peri sauce when we get a Nando's craving and know it will be a couple of months till we can visit one!

Ginger seems to be one of my missing ingredients, I'll also pick up some coriander and mint. I bought garlic, yesterday, and didn't think of adding it to mix. The grocery I visited had about four dozen varieties of yogurt and I really had to search for plain. Still, the best plain yogurt was "fat free" and I would have avoided it had that been possible. I didn't have the inclination to visit Trader Joes. Would it be possible and/or desirable to use yogurt kefir?

I'm fond of Filipino adobo chicken, so I'm planning a vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and onion marinade. I don't see how it can go wrong.

Nando's looks great! ...Unfortunately I'm not (really) traveling this year or next, so I'll have dream, for now.

Curious_George: My parents live between MKE and ORD, we might have plan a mini-Do, with your wife cooking.;)

For a US Southern, Louisiana twist, catfish, occasionally a bit muddy flavored, has been traditionally marinated in a mixture of buttermilk and yellow mustard, before breading and frying. Buttermilk also works well with venison to reduce the sometimes "gamy" flavor of deer shot in warm weather.

In either case, yoghurt makesa fine substitute.

I'm amused by "Australian" yoghurt. My local supermercado ain't long on plain (unsweetened/unfruited) varieties, but stocks from organic to "Greek Style" - pretty much covers memories of Turkish - and a new "Indian" sort. I don't recall any claim that Australian cows are any more natural - ... is "natural"? "Organic"? - the most over-used and PC of terms - than cows of other nationalities.

I've never tried using yogurt kefir, but I don't think it would be a problem. I never heard of Australian yogurt, so I don't know the difference with it. I do know Greek yogurt is insanely rich, when we can't find Greek yogurt, we just strain regular yogurt through a cheese cloth.

We actually make yogurt at home everyday, my breakfast consists of plain yogurt with honey, some fresh fruit and a sprinkiling of grape nuts.

As for a mini-do, you're on! My wife loves to cook (and I love to eat)!

You'll find that my original post showed a recipe by the Australian Dairy board.

While I'd like to say our yoghurt is much better than that you'll find in the USA (it is, but just to keep you all on side.... :) ) the recipe calls for standard unflavoured yoghurt

I'm fond of this one from Diane Rossen Worthington:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Z5A...yogurt+chicken

I'll give it a try.