Who wants to be a Slumdog Millionaire?

One of my favorite theatrical experiences was watching Slumdog Millionaire through my university's International Cinema program. The auditorium was so packed that I was standing in the back against the wall for the first 15 minutes or so of the movie. I felt like a pre-teen sneaking in the theatre to watch a PG-13 or R-rated and the thrill of this never-before-experienced feeling was strangely intoxicating enough that I didn't even mind standing. Plus, the movie being phenomenol also didn't hurt.

Luckily, someone got claustrophobic and left the theatre and I pounced on that empty seat like a shameless shopper on Black Friday. The greatest part of the experience was the massive audience participation during the film. We all gasped, laughed, and stood at the edge of our seats together and everyone was cheering and dancing a la Bollywood for the film's finale. I finally understood how the home DVD experience will never completely replace the magic of watching a movie on the big screen.

In honor of this indie sleeper hit, I decided to make Tandoori chicken, a popular Indian dish made from chicken and yogurt. The name Tandoori comes from the tandoor, a clay oven where the dish is traditionally cooked. My apartment lacking a tandoor, I cooked the chicken in a conventional American oven in an aluminum foil pan. I found the recipe at http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/tandoori-chicken-10000000460924/.

As this is an Indian dish, the recipe calls for myriad of spices.

 

 

 

 

After mixing the spices and yogurt, it was time to marinate the chicken. Plan on making this the day before you want to eat it because it requires the marinated chicken to chill in the fridge for at least 8 hours.

 

 

The next day, all you have to do is place the chicken in an aluminum roasting pan and bake for 35 minutes.

As a warning, side effects of this recipe may include spontaneoulsy breaking out in Bollywood-esque dance moves. If this happens to you, relax and just go with it.