Roast root veg ribbon st...
2019-03-19
Want to make ordinary root vegetables positively gourmet – in under 30 min...
Whole curry chicken
Prep 1 hr + 15 mins
Cooking 1 hr + 15 mins
Serves 6
On the mommy-made-it comfort food scale, few things come close to topping a marvelously fat, golden roast chicken. But we’re well into autumn and deep, highly perfumed curry spices are just so tempting. So, we decided to marry the best of two worlds in this whole roast curry chicken. Our Naturals range gives you the option of mild, medium or hot curry. Whichever you prefer, they all work when combined with yoghurt to form a gorgeously creamy curry marinade. We’re all increasingly carb conscious, but sometimes one just has to give in to the deliciousness that is fluffy white basmati rice. We made ours an extra special treat by cooking it in coconut milk, then topped it with plenty of coconut shavings, chilli and coriander.
What you will need
- 1 free range chicken
- ½ cup of full cream plain yoghurt
- 3 heaped tsps seasoning - Hot Curry
- 3 lrg cloves garlic, crushed
- Thumb-length size of ginger, peeled & quartered
- 2 lrg red onions
- Sea salt
- 1½ cups basmati rice
- 1½ cups coconut milk
- 1¼ cups water
- ¾ tsp salt
- Fresh or toasted coconut shavings
- Coriander
- Red chilli
- Limes, cut into wedges
Method
Preheat your oven to 180º C. Mix together the yoghurt and curry powder before rubbing over the chicken. Cover and place in the fridge for an hour to marinade. Remove and allow the chicken to come to room temperature before it goes in the oven.
Quarter the red onions and place in a roasting dish. Place the garlic and ginger inside the body cavity of the chicken and the chicken on top of the onions. Lightly salt the chicken with sea salt. Add a quarter cup of water to the pan and roast uncovered for 60-75 minutes, or until done. Allow the chicken to rest for at least 15 minutes before serving. Lift the chicken and tilt to let any resting juices that gathered inside the chicken run out. Added to the cooking juices in the roasting tray, you have yourself an instant little light gravy. Simply taste it for salt and adjust if necessary.
To make the basmati, rinse briefly under running water to wash away excess starch. Then add rice to a saucepan with the coconut milk, water and salt. Cover and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. Turn the heat off and allow the rice to stand, covered, for a further 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. To serve, top with shards of coconut, finely sliced red chilli, roughly chopped coriander and a few lime wedges on the side...and you’re done.
Recipe & photography by food stylist and blogger of everything yum, Lizet Hartley: http://www.melkkos-merlot.co.za
