Devon's Cooking...Tandoori Chicken

Dave has this joke that he loves to tell. I apologize in advance for a few things: a) this joke is very un-PC; b) it's actually completely illogical; and c) if you ever have Dave tell you this joke in person, your eardrums will not be pleased. It goes like this: "How do you sell a deaf guy a chicken?" You respond with a blank stare because you have no idea. Dave, in his loudest voice, then responds to his own question: "WANNA BUY A CHICKEN?!?!"

I already apologized. It's a bad joke. But I always think of it when I buy chicken at the grocery store-- this week was no exception. This week's chicken purchase led to a delicious, but ultimately disastrous, feast of "Tandoori" chicken. The recipe below will explain how this got so delicious... but not how it got so disastrous. Here's what happened: we have a lovely toaster oven that we received as a wedding gift; we now have a big enough kitchen for said toaster oven...sort of. We still use the nice flat-top of the t.o. (not to be confused with T.O., who we're going to see play in a Browns-Bills game in Buffalo this October) for storage. Namely, my much-used food scale often sits on top of the t.o., despite bold and oft-repeated warnings posted all over the t.o., shrilly reminding me that NOTHING should go on the top becuase it gets HOT. The warnings are not for naught-- that t.o. DOES get HOT! I realized this ten minutes too late as my delicious tandoori chicken was cooking perfectly in the t.o.-- but instead of aromatic curry, I started smelling burnt plastic. You guessed it-- my food scale was melting into the t.o. I grabbed the scale, searing two fingers in the process, and, finding that, despite my rescue efforts, the scale had melted (and I forgot to take a photo!). The new joke should go: "How do you sell an illiterate home cook a new food scale?"

Ingredients:
2 tbsp tandoori spice mix
1 medium onion(s), chopped
2 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1 cup(s) plain fat-free yogurt
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 pound(s) uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, four 4-oz pieces

Directions: In large zip-close plastic bag combine spice mix, onion, garlic, yogurt and lime juice. Make diagonal slashes across chicken about 1 inch apart. Add chicken. Refrigerate 6 to 24 hours. Heat broiler. Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place chicken on sheet, cover with sauce. Broil 4 inches from element until cooked through, about 15 minutes. (If spice mix is unavailable, substitute: 1 tbsp fresh minced ginger, 1 1/2 tsp coriander, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice.)