I’m always trying to up my game when it comes to Holiday Season turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Yes, I know that regular roasted or deep-fried turkey tastes wonderful but as a pitmaster, I like to incorporate a barbecue theme into my family’s holiday meal. I’ve posted numerous recipes over the years and for this year, I was inspired by Indian cuisine which is one of my favorite foods. Indian food flavors are very complex with hints of turmeric, cardamom, fenugreek, and other exotic ingredients. The flavor base is usually a garlic-ginger paste with fresh and dried chilies, and the sauce is either dairy based (yoghurt), coconut milk, or tamarind water based.

Folks in India don’t normally cook turkey but they have a superbly moist and delicious chicken leg dish that’s marinated in yoghurt and curry spices called Tandoori chicken. The name comes from the tandoor oven the meat is cooked in. This Indian tandoor clay oven is also used to cook breads like nan and meats kebabs on a metal skewer. The radiant heat is very hot like a dome wood-fired pizza oven and you get a fantastic char on the meat without it actually touching the fire. The closest US analogy is the Kamado or Green Egg type cookers.

The typical tandoori chicken process involves the following steps: 1) removing skin from the drumsticks or leg quarter and making deep cuts made into the bone for the seasoning to penetrate, 2) applying dry seasonings including salt, pepper, and garam marsala (a mixture of Indian spices), 3) marinating in a yoghurt and spice mixture of ginger, garlic, and curry powder, 4) cooking it in a tandoor oven and finishing with some char on the meat, and 5) serving it with sliced raw sweet onions, cilantro, and lemon wedges. The unique aspect is that the meat is skinless and the yoghurt mixture tenderizes the meat and locks in the moisture preventing the meat from drying out. The skinless method also means that there is less fat for your health conscious guests.

In my adaptation, I use a Weber kettle to smoke the turkey as I don’t have tandoor. After indirect smoking, you move it to the hot side to get char marks. Rather than trying to source all the exotic spices like fenugreek, cardamon, and garam marsala, I’ve found you can get a fabulous result using a good store-bought curry powder. I replaced the red dye used in the traditional yoghurt marinade with paprika and my All-Purpose rub instead of salt and pepper. If you’re feeling adventurous this Turkey Day and want to do something unique besides the regular turkey day bird with cranberry sauce, you can try this recipe. Or, better yet, cook two turkeys. One my way and the other smoked in your grill using my Tangilicious recipe. Or if you feel really bonkers, you can try this crazy-ass recipe.