It has been AGES since I last posted a recipe. Now that I am fast approaching my third trimester, I anticipate that things are going to change and soon, I’ll be back blogging again. Though first I have to survive three months of weekly lectures and tutorials which are by far more intimidating in my mind now than labour. But this is not the topic for this post is it! Today I decided to roast a whole chicken! I find that the easiest way to cut up a whole chicken is to use a sharp scissors. Cut it down the middle, separate the wings from the body and the thighs from the body and then you’ll have to cut by finding the breakable bones which will make the whole process less violent. I can’t say that I am an expert on this… just trial and error. I am sure that there are better ways of serving up chicken by slicing them up or chopping them… but for me, the amateur, scissors is the best.
The original recipe for this dish comes from an African cookbook! It’s called East African Roast Chicken, but I’ve reconstructed some of the ingredients because I don’t have everything for e.g. it calls for coconut milk which I don’t have. So I’ve improvised! Hubby likes the end product – said it’s the best ‘East African’ chicken he’s ever tasted! That’s all that matters I suppose 🙂 Try it for yourselves and see!
Spiced Roast Chicken
Blend the following in a chopper or blender if you can or just do lots of chopping and mix them up:
Bunch of coriander stalks and leaves
One onion
6 cloves of garlic or more (up to you)
2 chillies
4 tomatoes (or use tomato paste)
The above should be blended into tiny pieces. Once that is done, mix in:
Sour cream (I had half a box left which is about 3 tbsps);
1 tsp coriander ground;
1 tsp chicken masala powder (or if you don’t have, use ground cumin and garam masala as substitutes);
1 tsp of turmeric; and
Slice of butter (about 20g or less).
Add salt and pepper.
I ended up blending everything again together. Then generously spoon marinade over the chicken. I also stuffed another onion into the chicken 🙂 you know where…
The recipe called for the chicken to be marinated overnight. I didn’t have that luxury so I spooned everything on the chicken. Lay the chicken on top of a bed of leftover celery stalks and 3-4 pieces of chillies (which were about the disintegrate in my fridge unless I used them). I then placed chicken in the oven at 100 degrees for six hours.
Technically you should cover the chicken with foil and cook the chicken at 190 degrees of 200 degrees in an hour and turn it over when it’s brown or until juices run clear. I removed the foil six hours later and let it brown over 200 degrees turning it once after 20 minutes. This method is probably only good or should I say, useful, for times when you want to prepare dinner early and want to have the day free to do other things. I get really tired preparing dinner in the evenings. So this works best for me.
We had this for early dinner served with hubby’s kenyan style spinach and garlic blend. It was yum.
Already cut roasted portions in baking tray (with scissors of course!)
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