I never tire of eating simple roast chicken, but it’s come to my attention that others can. (Lately Julia’s been pushing away plates of it. At first I figured it was some childhood food aversion, but now I think it’s just boredom.)
Here’s a dish to wake up your palate and get you excited about chicken again. The Indian-inspired spice crust that covers the bird has a mouth-watering aroma and a lively, complex flavor that doesn’t overwhelm the flavor of the poultry. You could build an indian dinner around this dish, but I like to serve it with simple sides, as I would a good old American roast chicken. Rice or wild rice and a green vegetable are all you need to round out a very special meal.
The list of ingredients here is a bit long, but the recipe is really pretty simple. There are just two components — a marinade and a thick spice rub, there’s no tedious prep work involved in either, and the dish cooks completely untended. If the two-hour marinade doesn’t work for your schedule (as it rarely does for mine), you can rub the chicken with the marinade the morning or the night before you plan to serve. Similarly, you can make the spice crust in advance and smear it on the chicken just before it goes in the oven.
Julia’s been asking for more.
Recipe
(adapted from Murgh Mussallam in Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey, serves 4)
Ingredients
For the marinade:
1 3 – 3 1/2 pound (about 1.5 kg) chicken
1 inch (2.5 cm) cube of fresh ginger, coarsely chopped)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
6 tablespoons of plain yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
For the spice crust:
3 medium onions
4 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 1/2 inch (4 cm) cube fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
About 3 tablespoons blanched almonds, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon paprika (not smoked)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
6-8 tablespoons vegetable oil (such as canola oil)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
Instructions
1. Put the ginter, garlic and about 3 tablespoons of the yoghurt into the bowl of a food processor and blend until you have a paste, pushing down the contents of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the turmeric, salt, cayenne and black pepper. Pulse to mix. Transfer to a bowl, add the remaining 3 tablespoons of yoghurt and blend with a fork.
2. Skin the chicken. (If this sort of thing grosses you out, you can ask your butcher to do it for you.) The skin should come off pretty easily until you get past the first joint of the wings. Beyond that it gets difficult to remove, and I don’t bother. Smear the marinade all over the naked chicken, inside and out. Cover and leave unrefrigerated for about 2 hours, or 8 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. If you’re making the spice paste right away, there’s no need to wash out the bowl of the food processor.
3. Put the onions, garlic, ginger and almonds into the food processor. Blend to a paste, pushing stray bits down with a rubber spatula when you need to. Add the cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, cayenne and salt. Blend until incorporated.
4. Over medium heat, warm the oil in a nonstick skillet for about a minute. Add the spice paste and fry, stirring frequently, for about 8 minutes. Add the lemon juice, black pepper and garam masala. Stir, turn off the heat and let the paste cool. (You can transfer it to a plate to speed this process.) At this point you can hold the marinated chicken and the paste in the refrigerator. About 45 minutes before you’re ready to bake the chicken, pull it out of the fridge to take the chill off and proceed.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F (180 C). Smear the cooled spice paste all over the chicken, inside and out. Place on a piece of foil large enough to enclose the chicken. (You may need to seam two pieces together for this.) Seal the foil into a tight little pup tent, leaving at least two inches around the top and sides of the bird.
6. Place the foil-wrapped chicken in a baking pan or dish and bake for 90 minutes, or until the chicken is tender.
Carve and serve with spoonfuls of the sauce puddled in the bottom of the foil packet.
