Hi all,
Most recipes and videos I have seen online start with a yogurt based marinade for the chicken. The chicken is then “seared”, removed from the pan, rest of sauce built up and chicken returned to finish cooking.
My issue here is that you cannot really sear wet stuff in a pan. So that chicken, covered in yogurt marinade will not really sear (even if you shake off the excess). You basically get a braising conditions in the pan. This probably DOES work in a grill as the marinade simply drips into the coals and burns but not in a pan.
So the question is:
- Wouldn’t it be better to dry rub the chicken so it could be seared and simply use the yogurt (and rest of wet ingredients for the marinade) as a deglazing liquid afterwards?


I agree with your observations 100%.
In a tandoor or grill, the sauce would drip and NOT get the chicken soggy but that’s impossible in a pan (even cast iron) which is why I am looking at this alternative approach
I will most likely give this a try tomorrow with the “new” technique to get some actual sear… I’ll post my notes here
Thanks for your reply
This guy says put it on the grill first as well. https://m.youtube.com/shorts/GBllvi-FK-I
Oh yes, the without a Tandoor oven, the grill is certainly the next best option.
It’s still too snowy here to cook outside though but definitely that would be my go to Spring to Fall