The story of tandoori chicken's sides: decide where the table lands before you shop
After putting chicken thighs in your basket at the evening supermarket, you sometimes stop short. The tandoori chicken is settled. You've bought the yogurt. You have the garam masala. But "what do I serve with this to make it dinner?"
Tandoori chicken (तंदूरी चिकन / Tandoori Chicken) is a dish with a strong aroma, sourness and heat. So sides come together if you give them the jobs not of adding flavor but of resting the mouth, catching the juices, and adding vegetables and carbohydrate to the table.
If you are marinating the chicken while looking at how to make tandoori chicken, you don't have to push yourself to make every side on the same day. Raita is just mixing, kachumber is just cutting, jeera rice is just cooking rice. The knack to keeping up Indian cooking at home is to limit yourself to one dish that takes effort and make the rest sides that don't raise the kitchen's temperature too much.
In this article I sort seven sides for tandoori chicken by role and by ingredient so they are easy to decide before shopping. It assumes ingredients you can easily gather at an ordinary supermarket, an Asian or Indian grocer or online, with substitutes noted. As the overview of Indian cuisine also says, Indian cooking is completed not as a single plate but by the lineup of "a main, rice or bread, lentils, sourness, herbs and pickle."
If you are unsure, start with the three of mint raita, jeera rice and quick lemon onions. The combination cools the heat, catches the juices, and closes with sourness at the end, so the tandoori chicken doesn't float alone on the plate, and it also settles well as a weeknight dinner.
Mint raita, kachumber, jeera rice, skillet naan, red lentil dal, mint-coriander chutney and quick achaar-style onions. You don't need to make them all. As a guide, three for a weeknight, five for a weekend, seven for guests.
First decide three roles: cool, catch and perfume
Choosing sides for tandoori chicken from the names of dishes is confusing. With raita, chutney, achaar, dal, pulao and naan, a list of foreign words scatters your shopping notes.
Sorting by role first makes it easier.
| Role | Side | What it does | Minimum on a busy day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cool | Mint raita, kachumber | Resets heat and fat with yogurt and raw vegetables | Raita alone is fine |
| Catch | Jeera rice, naan, chapati | Catches the juices and the aroma of the marinade | Frozen naan or rice-cooker rice |
| Perfume | Chutney, achaar, lemon onions | Keeps it from going monotonous to the last bite | Lemon onions alone are fine |
| Fill in | Dal, samosa, stir-fried vegetables | Adds beans, vegetables and fiber | Make dal in a small pot |
Make the order of shopping match these roles too. First secure the yogurt, cucumber, lemon and rice or naan, and if you have energy, add lentils and herbs. Stopping at the spice aisle can wait till last. With cumin and garam masala, the sides in this article mostly get covered.
What is often said in English-language Indian recipes is to put a "cooling condiment" with a rich main. Yogurt-based raita, chopped-vegetable kachumber and mint or coriander chutney are all dishes for softening the heat of tandoori chicken.
At home, making "one more dish" from scratch after the main tends to be a burden. So in this article the same ingredients go into several sides. Cucumber goes into raita and kachumber. Mint goes into raita and chutney. Onion goes into kachumber and the achaar style. Lemon goes a little into all of them. Compress your shopping like this and Indian cooking suddenly feels close.
For a first time, "tandoori chicken + mint raita + jeera rice + lemon onions" is enough to make a table. Add naan, dal and chutney from next time on. If you try to lay out seven from the start, you can't concentrate on how the star comes out of the oven.
Ingredients (serves 4)
Here the ingredients are gathered on the premise of making all seven in small amounts. The tandoori chicken's own ingredients are left to the tandoori chicken recipe, and this article covers only the sides, rice, bread and sauces. You needn't actually make all of them, so on a weeknight pick up only the raita, jeera rice and lemon onions.
The sides in this article contain dairy (yogurt, butter, ghee) and wheat (naan). Dairy can be replaced with soy yogurt and vegetable oil. To avoid the naan, cook a larger batch of jeera rice, or use store-bought rice-flour tortillas.
The nutrition information in the front matter is an estimate for all seven dishes divided among four people. If you skip the naan and dal on a weeknight minimum, calories and carbohydrate per person drop considerably. On days you serve both rice and naan the starches overlap, so adjust by the amount of staple rather than the amount of meat.
Instructions
If you move in step with the tandoori chicken's roasting time, the sides are easier than you'd think. Make the cold sides first and put them in the refrigerator. Rice and dal can be left alone for a bit once they're on the heat. Naan is best fresh, so it comes last.
Step 1: Make the mint raita (5 min)
Coarsely grate 1 cucumber and lightly squeeze out the water. In a bowl, put 200 g yogurt, the cucumber, 1 tbsp mint chopped 2–3 mm wide, 1/4 tsp ground cumin, 1/3 tsp salt and 1 tsp lemon juice, and mix. Spread it to about 10 cm across in the middle of a dish and chill 30 minutes in the refrigerator so the flavors blend.
Raita is not merely a yogurt sauce but a "coolant" for spicy dishes. Against the red marinade of tandoori chicken, a bite of white raita brings your tongue back. Raita is also used as a side with biryani, and the same logic suits chicken.
Step 2: Cut the kachumber (8 min)
Cut 1 cucumber, 1 tomato and 1/2 red onion into 1 cm cubes. Mix in 2 tbsp cilantro, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1/3 tsp salt and a little ground cumin. Stop when the corners of the vegetables are intact, the lemon and salt are evenly distributed, and no watery liquid is left over, and keep it in the refrigerator until just before eating.
Kachumber (कचुम्बर / Kachumber) is a chopped-vegetable salad eaten widely across the Indian subcontinent. Unlike Japanese salads with plenty of dressing, lemon and salt only draw out a little of the vegetables' water. So even beside a meat dish, the flavors don't overlap too much.
Step 3: Cook the jeera rice (25 min)
Rinse 2 rice-cooker cups (about 300 g) of basmati lightly and soak 30 minutes. In a pot, melt 1 tbsp butter or 1 tbsp ghee and add 1 tsp cumin seeds. When it bubbles and smells fragrant, add the rice and stir 1 minute, add 360 ml water and 1/2 tsp salt and cook. Once boiling, cook 12 minutes over low heat, turn off the heat and steam 10 minutes.
If making it with Japanese short-grain rice, reduce the water by about 2 tbsp from usual for 2 rice-cooker cups and cook it in a rice cooker. It will not be as loose as basmati, but is quite good enough as an "Indian-style mixed rice" scented with cumin.
Step 4: Simmer the red lentil dal (25 min)
Wash 150 g red lentils and put them in a pot with 500 ml water, 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp salt. Simmer 20 minutes over medium-low heat, and when the lentils collapse, stir lightly with a wooden spatula. In a separate small pot, heat 1 tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 clove minced garlic and a little ginger, and when fragrant add it to the lentil pot. Finish with 1/2 tsp garam masala.
With dal, a meat-only menu becomes a "meal." The softness of the beans takes the edge off the spices, and you can ladle it over jeera rice or scoop it with naan. If the khichdi recipe is a dish that sets the body right with rice and lentils, this simple dal is the part that settles the table beside tandoori chicken.
Step 5: Cook the skillet naan (20 min)
Mix 200 g bread flour, 100 g all-purpose flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Add 100 g yogurt, 80 ml water and 1 tbsp oil and bring it together; when the floury look is gone and the dough is a little softer than an earlobe, rest it 10 minutes. Divide into 4, roll into ovals, and cook 2 minutes per side in a dry frying pan. Brush lightly with butter to finish.
Real naan is bread baked in a tandoor, but at home a frying pan is enough. Cooking over fairly high medium heat until the browning is patchy connects well with the savoriness of tandoori chicken. For easier still, frozen naan is fine.
Step 6: Make the mint-coriander chutney (5 min)
Blend 10 g mint leaves, 20 g cilantro, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp salt and 2 tbsp water in a blender. Stop when it is a coarse green paste with no large leaf veins left. Adding a little green chili is the local way, but omit it if the tandoori chicken itself is hot.
Chutney is a sauce that adds "a green wind" to the aroma of roasted meat. When you keep eating fatty chicken thigh, just having the green scent of mint and cilantro makes it feel light to the last piece. Samosa also uses mint chutney, and it goes just as well with tandoori dishes.
Step 7: Make the quick achaar-style onions (5 min)
Slice 1/2 red onion 1–2 mm thin and mix with 2 tbsp vinegar, 2 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp sugar, 1/3 tsp salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper. This quick version uses no heat. Just leave it 10 minutes until the onion wilts and turns translucent, and you have a sharply sour side to set beside the tandoori chicken.
Real achaar is a preserved food pickled in oil and spices, but for a home dinner the quick version is enough. Leaving some of the onion's sharpness is better so it doesn't lose to the savoriness of tandoori chicken.
Using the seven: which to choose when
There are probably few days you make all seven. So change the combination to suit who you're feeding and the occasion.
Weeknight dinner: finish with three
On a weeknight, "tandoori chicken + mint raita + jeera rice + lemon onions" is enough. Marinate the chicken the night before and put it in the oven when you get home. While it roasts, cook the rice, mix the raita and steep the onions in vinegar. Then you spend only about 30 minutes in the kitchen.
Weekend feast: increase to five
On a weekend, add dal and naan to those three. Making dal adds the sweetness of beans and raises the satisfaction of the table a good deal. Naan is fun fresh, so it is nice to cook with family or friends. With children, leave the green chili out of the chutney and make more raita.
The day of guests: seven dishes in a thali style
For guests, divide the seven into small dishes and put the tandoori chicken on a large platter. As in the Indian thali, setting out small amounts of rice, bread, lentils, yogurt, salad, chutney and sour pickle makes the table suddenly festive.
The knack is not to increase the star tandoori chicken too much. Several small dishes lined up gives more of a "table of the world" pleasure than a pile of meat. As with dal bhat, South Asian meals build satisfaction not from one main but from a collection of small elements.
If pairing with alcohol
For beer or wine, keep the carbohydrate light and increase the kachumber and chutney. With a dish strong in fat and heat, cold vegetables and sourness work well. Adding samosa gives a starter feel, but fried foods pile up, so on days with plenty of tandoori chicken make the samosa small, or use only a few store-bought ones.
Shopping list and substitutes
Dividing shopping into "what I use today" and "what I'll use next time too" avoids waste. For fresh things, buy only what you need; for spices and rice, choose ones you can reuse for the next biryani or khichdi.
| Where to buy | What to buy | Substitute and judgment |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinary supermarket | Chicken, yogurt, cucumber, tomato, onion, lemon | If you have no herbs, shiso and scallions move it toward a Japanese style |
| Asian or Indian grocery | Garam masala, cumin, cilantro, frozen naan | Spice jars from any large brand also work |
| Large-format store | Frozen naan, fried onions, large yogurt tubs | Frozen naan is handy for guests |
| Online | Basmati rice, red lentils, amchur, kasuri methi | Once you buy them, Indian cooking widens |
If you will use the same spices many times, a bag is cheaper than a small jar. But the aroma fades little by little, so choose an amount you can use up within half a year. Cumin, turmeric and garam masala come out often, and are three that are hard to regret buying.
There are also things you needn't buy. If the tandoori chicken itself is hot, green chili is unnecessary, and lemon can replace amchur. Kasuri methi lifts the aroma a level, but you needn't force yourself to gather it the first time. If you shop so that "rice, lentils and cumin" stay at home, it connects to the next biryani or khichdi.
Mint and cilantro are easy to leave over, so design it so they are used up the same day in raita, chutney and kachumber. Yogurt is used in the tandoori chicken marinade and in the raita, so a 400 g pack is just the right amount.
Make-ahead and the day's timeline
With tandoori chicken, the schedule matters more than the sides. If you time the sides to the chicken's roasting, the browning can reach the table at its best moment.
The night before
Marinate the chicken. If you have time, lightly drain the yogurt for the raita in a paper towel. Check your stock of basmati rice, red lentils and spices at this point too.
Midday of the day
For guests, wash the kachumber vegetables and slice the onion. But add the lemon and salt just before; mixing early draws out too much water. You can make the dal at midday and reheat it before eating without trouble.
60 minutes before eating
Take the tandoori chicken out of the refrigerator and let it come toward room temperature. Soak the rice for the jeera rice and mix the raita. Start preheating the oven.
40 minutes before eating
Start roasting the tandoori chicken. At the same time, warm the dal and cook the jeera rice. Here, mix the lemon and salt into the kachumber.
10 minutes before eating
Cook the naan and blend the chutney. When the tandoori chicken is done, rest it 5 minutes, and while it rests arrange the lemon onions on a dish.
Raita and kachumber are ideally eaten the same day, refrigerated. Dal keeps 2 days refrigerated and 2 weeks frozen. Chutney loses aroma easily, so use it by the next day. Cook the chicken through to the center, and refrigerate leftovers after letting the heat go off.
Background of the dish: in India, the sides complete the meal
Seen as a single-plate dish, tandoori chicken is "roasted chicken." But seen across the whole table, tandoori chicken is one element of a thali. Rice, bread, lentils, yogurt, sourness, heat, herbs. Thanks to that balance, you can enjoy a strongly spiced main to the last bite.
In English-language explanations of Indian food, raita is treated as a "condiment" or "side dish," with emphasis on its role of easing the heat of chili and spices. Kachumber is a simple salad of chopped raw vegetables with lemon and salt, often set beside heavy curries and grilled dishes. Chutneys come sweet, hot and sour, and make the final outline of a meal.
In bringing this thinking into a home kitchen, you needn't make everything perfectly local. What matters is to put in contrasts: "warm and cold," "rich and sour," "meat and lentils," "rice and bread."
On a day you roast tandoori chicken, the aroma of cumin lingers in the kitchen. If the next morning you turn the leftover jeera rice into fried rice or warm the dal as soup, the spices you bought don't end after one use. That is also why we keep adding Indian dishes. Learn one dish and it connects naturally to the next.
There are many combinations in the world of "meat, bread and a sour sauce," like roti canai and shawarma. Learn the sides for tandoori chicken and you can apply them to such dishes too.
Summary: start with three, and tandoori chicken becomes a menu
For tandoori chicken's sides, deciding by role works better than memorizing many dish names. Cooling raita, catching jeera rice and aromatic lemon onions: with these three it comes together well enough for a weeknight dinner.
If you have a little extra on the weekend, add dal and naan. Only on the day of guests, set out the kachumber and chutney too, and it becomes a thali-style table. If you are unsure when shopping, put yogurt, cucumber, lemon, basmati rice and cumin in the basket first. From there, matching the aroma of the roasting meat, add sides and you'll be fine.
Once you are used to roasting tandoori chicken itself, you can carry the same sides over to biryani and samosa next. Indian cooking is more fun the more parts of the table you add, rather than learning one dish at a time.
Frequently asked questions
Here are the points where people hesitate while shopping. Tandoori chicken's star is strong, so it matters not to strain with the sides and not to miss the role of taste.
Q. Does white rice go with tandoori chicken?
Yes. But Japanese short-grain rice is sticky, and catching the juices of tandoori chicken can feel a little heavy. Cook it with slightly less water and mix in a little cumin seed or butter and the match improves. Basmati for a more local feel, Japanese rice if convenience comes first, are both fine.
Q. Do I need both naan and rice?
No. On a weeknight either one is enough. Naan if you want to scoop up juices and raita, jeera rice if you want to feel full as a meal. Serving both only for guests makes the table festive.
Q. Can I make it if I dislike cilantro?
Yes. Kachumber works without cilantro. For the chutney, use more mint and replace the cilantro with a little shiso or scallion and it's easier to eat. But leaving out all herbs flattens the flavor, so make the lemon juice and cumin a little stronger.
Q. What should I change for children?
Leave out the green chili in the chutney and the cayenne pepper in the achaar-style onions. Make more raita and bake small naan and it's easier to eat. If you also make the tandoori chicken itself mild, replace the Kashmiri chili with mostly paprika in the tandoori chicken recipe.
Q. I don't have time to make dal. What can substitute?
A store-bought bean salad, canned lentils or boiled chickpeas will do. Lightly mashing chickpeas and dressing them with lemon juice, salt, cumin and olive oil is enough to fill the role of beans. Putting hummus in a small dish also goes well with tandoori chicken.
Q. How can I use leftover sides the next day?
Stir-fry jeera rice with egg for spiced fried rice. Add water to the dal for soup. Raita can be a sandwich sauce. Kachumber releases water easily, so same-day is best. Chutney also goes with grilled fish and poached chicken breast.
Q. For two servings, can I halve the ingredients?
Basically halving is fine. But leave the cumin seeds, garam masala and lemon juice a little more than half so the aroma doesn't blur. You can bake four naan and freeze them, and it's easier to cook the jeera rice at 2 rice-cooker cups and use the rest in fried rice the next day. Only raita and kachumber release water easily, so reduce them to an amount you can finish.
Sources
This article reorganizes English-language explanations of Indian cooking and our existing articles into shopping units easy to reproduce at home. The amounts are adjusted on the basis of ingredients easy to buy at an ordinary supermarket.
- Wikipedia, "Raita" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raita
- Wikipedia, "Kachumber" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachumber
- Wikipedia, "Thali" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thali
- Swasthi's Recipes, "Tandoori Chicken" https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/tandoori-chicken-recipe/
- Serious Eats, "Cucumber Raita" https://www.seriouseats.com/cucumber-raita-recipe
- BBC Good Food, "Kachumber salad" https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/kachumber-salad
