Does tandoori chicken refer to the spices or the cooking technique?
ANSWER PERSON RESPONDS: Seemingly, both or neither. It’s named for being cooked in a tandoor (a traditional clay pot-like oven). This can be fudged by cooking at a very high temperature in other types of ovens. Despite being named for the high-temperature cooking device, the recipes share some common features, so it’s safe to assume that it wouldn’t be tandoori chicken if it didn’t meet the basic look and taste criteria.
The recipes all call for the chicken to be red, but the marinade varies. Annatto is one traditional method to color it. Sometimes alternatively or additionally chili powder or saffron or tumeric. The base of the marinade is yoghurt. Judging from the huge variety of recipes out there, the ingredients are flexible, even in traditional Indian recipes.