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Tandoori style lobster is tender with just enough bite!

When I made tandoori style lobster for my wife, Caroline last night she was not very pleased at first. In her opinion, the delicate sweet natural flavour of lobster needs nothing more than a little butter and garlic. I have to say, I agree. But as you may or may not know by now, I am just over four months into a year of eating and cooking nothing but Indian food.  Yesterday two nice one and a half pound live lobsters were on my hit list.

Though I do prefer my lobsters without much seasoning, this tandoori style lobster was delicious. Even Caroline had to apologise in the end as she absolutely loved it. I served the lobster with saffron rice which was all washed down with a bottle of ice cold Pinot Grigio.

I cooked the tandoori style lobster on a Webber kettle barbecue over a wood fire but you could cook it much easier in a conventional oven without losing much flavour.

Serves 2

Preparation time: 30 minutes plus marinading time
Cooking time: 6 minutes

 

INGREDIENTS for tandoori style lobster

 

2 live lobsters (1 1/2 lbs each)

Marinade

125ml (1/2 cup) plain yogurt
1 egg
5 cloves garlic – smashed
2 inch piece ginger – grated
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
Juice of two lemons
2 tablespoons gram flour
1 tablespoon garam masala
4 tablespoon melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoon finely chopped coriander

How to kill and prepare the lobster

Place the point of a sharp knife toward the top of the lobster’s head with the sharp part of the blade facing away from the tail.

Very quickly stick the knife into the lobster’s head and slice downward bringing the sharp blade through the head to the work surface.

Now cut the lobster the other way down the body and tail so you have to long halves.

Remove all the black and green goo and other membranes.

Carefully remove the meat from the tail and claws. If you do this slowly, you should be able to keep the pieces whole.

Wash the shells and set aside.

 

Method

Place the marinade ingredients in a blender and blend to a fine paste.

Cover the lobster meat with the marinade and allow to sit for about an hour.

Preheat your oven to its highest setting.

Remove the lobster meat from the marinade and cut into bite sized chunks and place back in the shells.

Place these in your oven and baste with butter after about three minutes.

THIS IS IMPORTANT!

Watch your lobsters very carefully. I suggest cooking tandoori style lobster for six minutes but ovens can vary. Overcooked lobster is ruined lobster. You want the meat to be just cooked through and tender.

Be sure to stop back by and let me know how you liked tandoori style lobster!