There is a high demand across Canada for more ethnic dishes. Tandoori style cooking is widely used in India and Pakistan. Traditionally, meats are marinated in tandoori spices and then cooked in the tandoor, which is a clay oven.   This same oven is used to cook naan bread, a personal favourite of mine. The main Tandoori spices include gram masala, ginger, garlic, onion, coriander, chili and cayenne pepper. These are then combined with yogurt and used as a marinade. The fiery red colour comes from the chili and cayenne. In North America the adapted versions get the red colour mainly from paprika.

Tilapia is a fish that holds up well on a skewer.   It has a firm lean texture that won’t fall apart when placed on the grill. I’m working with our 3-5 oz. deep skinned Tilapia. Deep skinned just means that we have removed most of the dark skin line. Our super deep skinned Tilapia has virtually no skin line. I’ve just sliced it about ¾ inch wide.

Then I fold each piece and pierce it with the metal skewer. Of course you could use bamboo skewers as well. Each skewer represents a whole  3-5 oz. fillet. You could also put some shrimp on the skewer.

There are many different food service brands that carry a prepared tandoori paste. Simply mix this paste with a greek style yogurt to whatever ratio you desire. I recommend ½ liter of yogurt to 3 tbsp of tandoori paste as a start. I like to use greek style yogurt as it has a higher fat content and won't curdle during the cooking process. Marinate these skewers overnight.   When a customer orders this, simply lift the skewer out of the marinade. It’s important not to wipe off all the marinade. The idea is to char it with high heat, similar to cooking it in the tandoor. This can be achieved on a smoking hot grill. Simply season and then spray with oil. Place on the hot grill to get the char marks, rotate once and then transfer to the oven to finish cooking.

I like to present this on a plate with a banana leaf. Banana leaves can be found frozen for about $1.00. The only tricky part is finding them.  Check  West/East Indian or Asian grocers. But before you go hunting, check with your food service supplier as they may have a lead on them.

That’s the entire package spread out. Pretty good value eh! Just wipe them with a bit of oil to bring them back to luster.

Pair these Tandoori Tilapia skewers with some biryani rice and you're good to go.  Click here for recipe....... Stay hungry my friends!