Make this. Really Really Amazingly Tasty Grilled Chicken. Really. Make it.

You know what I really hate? I hate those stupid fad diets where some lollypop-headed wizened strip of beef jerky masquerading as a health professional tries to persuade you that you can learn to eat nothing but lean meat poached in water and steamed vegetables forever. I hate that. I HATE it. Eating well should be about eating well in every sense. If you’re dieting, it’s really important that you eat healthy, satisfying, tasty food that fills you up and doesn’t leave you feeling like, well, a strip of beef jerky living on adzuki beans and lean meat poached in water.

That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot to be said for lean meat and veggies. I don’t believe in cutting out carbs altogether because it is stupid and bad for you, but for some reason I’ve fallen into the habit of eating carbs at breakfast and lunch and keeping my suppers relatively carb-free. Or rather, potato or bread or rice. Starchy carbs, I suppose. Except veggies are carbs and don’t they have starch in them? WHATEVER LOOK I AM NOT A FOOD SCIENTIST OKAY.

Anyway, that works for me. But honestly. You do not have to spend the rest of your life eating chicken poached in water. You are allowed to eat meat that tastes good and it’s really easy. So let us tiptoe behind the “read more” tag, Dear Reader, and I shall whisper the recipe in your ear.

Right. Now, this recipe is slightly adapted from the Marinated Grilled Chicken (murgh lajavaab) recipe in Madhur Jaffrey’s Step By Step cookery, a collection of recipes from India and the Far East. The recipes are delicious, easy to follow and easily adaptable if you’re watching your weight.

This recipe seems to involve a lot of fat - but remember: this is a marinade you are making here. If you are feeling indulgent you can spread it on the chicken and grill it until the marinade is crispy and brown. BUT if you do not want to do that, the meat will be delicious anyway thanks to lengthy marinating, even if the marinade itself gets scraped off.

INGREDIENTS:

Meat - 1.4-1.6 kg chicken pieces (I used skinless boneless chicken thighs.  If you use chicken breast, consider cutting it in two or three and pounding the pieces with a mallet or rolling pin to thin them down a bit; the tenderising makes them hold the flavour of the marinade better and they will also cook faster).

For the marinade:

2 medium onions (I used red onions)

4 fat cloves of garlic

1 inch of fresh root ginger (I used a teaspoon of ground ginger)

2-3 fresh green chillis or 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin seeds (I used a teaspoon of ground cumin. You can never have too much cumin.)

1 tbsp ground coriander

150 ml wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

150 ml light vegetable oil (I used sunflower. DO NOT reduce the oil. Remember, it’s a marinade, you can scrape it off before grilling if you don’t want to eat any fat.)

2 teaspoons salt and some pepper

METHOD

Chop the onions, garlic and ginger if using fresh. You don’t have to do this too finely, because the next thing you do is bung all of the marinade ingredients in a blender and whizz them until you have a sort of milkshake-y emulsion.

Take your chickeny bits and stab them with a fork here and there. Put them in a large dish, pour over the marinade and move them about a bit so that everything is covered in marinade.

Cover, put in the fridge, and leave for at least 3 hours. Madhur Jaffrey recommends 24 hours. I marinated mine for 48 because I ended up eating out yesterday. I would strongly recommend leaving them at least overnight.

When you’re ready to cook them, take your chickeny bits out of the fridge. Leave them to return to room temperature - this is important, dudes, because I forgot to do it and they needed a lot longer under the grill as a result.

Line a tray with foil. Lift your chickeny bits out, scraping off or adding more marinade according to taste, and grill for 15 mins or so each side. When they are done they should be well-browned and cooked through. I turned my grill up as high as it will go, and had the tray as high up under the grill as it would go, because my grill is a bit shit, but you should keep an eye on them and be ready to move them down or turn the heat down if they are browning too quickly; you don’t want the outside to be blackened and burnt before the inside is cooked through.

I served this with a green salad, but it occurred to us afterwards that it would have been quite a good idea to pop a spoonful or two of cumin seeds and black mustard seeds in a little oil in a frying pan and then stir in some savoy cabbage: the king of vegetables.

Anyway, there it is. Delicious grilled chicken that doesn’t make you feel like a weird Hollywood lollypop person living on steamed vegetables and tofu. No no, don’t thank me. The work is its own reward.