Monday, March 26, 2007

Roasted chicken with curry rub

My dad celebrated his birthday on Saturday, and my mum had asked us to bring a cake (K. made a rather wonderful tiramisu to feed 16 guests), and a salad. Any self-respecting Estonian birthday party has a large bowl of kartulisalat or potato salad (known as Russian salad in many places, which is a version of the famous Salad Olivier), so I didn't bother to do that, as my mum would make one anyway. Instead I offered to make something more exotic - a mayonnaise and sour cream based salad of rice and curried chicken. The offer was kindly accepted (and the salad quickly eaten, I'm happy to report).

In order to make that salad, however, I needed half of a curry-roasted chicken. That's why we had roasted chicken with curry rub for dinner on Friday night. Easy-peasy..

Note that I didn't baste the chicken with any liquid during roasting, nor is there any fat as such (no oil, no butter) in the marinade - indeed, it's practically a fat-free marinade. Yet the resulting chicken was moist and succulent.

Roasted chicken with curry rub
(Karriahjukana)
Adapted from Woman's Day Magazine, April 2000



3-4 pound roasting chicken, giblets (if any) removed

Curry rub:
2 Tbsp curry powder
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp freshly ground cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 lemon, halved
4 Tbsp sour cream or plain yogurt

Rinse the chicken under the cold water (Delicious Days had recently an interesting post about the pros and cons of washing meat - check it out!). Dry thoroughly with a kitchen paper, as otherwise the rub won't stick. Place on a roasting tray.
Prepare the curry rub. Mix curry powder, salt, ginger and cumin seeds, add crushed garlic cloves, about 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and the sour cream or yogurt, so you'll get a thick paste.
Put lemon halves into the body cavity of the chicken.
'Massage' the curry paste all over the chicken, so it would be well covered.
Place the roasting tray into the lower part of a pre-heated oven and roast at 180C for about an hour.
To test if the chicken is cooked, insert a sharp knife into the thickest part of the thigh and check that the meat juice runs clear and not pink (if it's still pink, put into the oven for another 10 minutes and test again).
Take the chicken out of the oven, and let it rest for about 10 minutes before carving.
Serve with rice and cooked green vegetables.

12 comments:

Thredahlia said...

Ma juba pikemat aega üritan Su blogi klikkida ainult täis kõhuga :D muul juhul on tagajärjed häälekad, nagu ma järjekordselt tõestan...
Terve broiler on ühele/kahele vast korraga liig, aga ma kindlasti proovin midagi analoogset koibade-kintsudega - see maitseainekombinatsioon tundub sümpaatne.

Aga liha pesemisest... ei pese ja ilmselt ei hakka ka pesema. Nii vana liha, et lõhna oleks vaja eemaldada, ei tarvita, lihamahlad kuivatan paberkäterätiga, ja seda tean ka raudpoltkindlalt, et vesi ei eemalda baktereid - aga kana korralik küpsetamine (72 kaadi need pahalased vist hävisid) saab Salmonellast jagu küll.

Anonymous said...

mmm, niii isuäratav, kus eestikeelne link on? ;)

Andrew said...

I've been thinking of doing something similar with a duck... are decent whole chickens as expensive with you as they are in the UK? (Talking Waitrose, organic or cornfed, free range etc)

Karin W. said...

I agree with Scott at Real Epicurean ...
"a long time since I did a whole roast chicken".

Buying a whole chicken is much cheaper than buying individual cuts. At least in Sweden. But chicken wings, legs and breasts are often offered at special price.

Pille said...

Thredahlia - mina ei pese ka üldiselt liha, aga kana lasen mõnikord külma vee alt läbi. Ei teagi miks.. Aga see DeliciousDays vestlus oli lahe lugeda - nii metsikult palju eri arvamusi!!

Anonüümne - tore, et meeldib! Ja nüüd on ka eestikeelne link lisatud.

Scott - same here. I had forgotten how effortless and satisfying a roasted chicken can be!

Andrew - I think the rub is potent enough to go with a duck. Re: decent whole organic/cornfed/free range chickens. We're light years behind Waitrose in that matter, I'm afraid. When I got back in October, the (supposedly best) supermarket had 10 types of eggs on sale, yet none of them were free range or even barn eggs!! The salesperson gave me a blank look when I asked after some! We managed to source some from a small organic shop. Now, 5 months later, you can buy those "Kikerikii" eggs (I love the name:) from the shop in question as well. I'd love to think it was my request that initiated it:)

Karin - another problem here is that supermarkets tend to sell ready-seasoned chicken bits and pieces (or seasoned whole chickens) more agressively, as that is more profitable than a plain whole chicken. We needed a plain whole chicken a few months ago, and had to look in several shops before we found one!!

Anonymous said...

aitähh!

Gracianne said...

Nothing like a good massage to make a wonderful roast chicken, your rub sounds really tasty.
Funny waht you say about whole chicken. In France they are usually cheaper than chicken pieces and very easy to find.

Kalyn Denny said...

Sounds very fabulous. I love the idea that there's no added fat too, and curry with chicken is one of my favorite combinations. Saved!

Pille said...

Anonüümne - võta heaks:)

Gracianne - a whole chicken is cheaper per weight to buy than pieces here, too. But they're harder to find occasionally for some reason, whereas you can find plenty of pre-seasoned whole chickens!?

Kalyn - I quite like the no-added-fact aspect, too:) Hope you'll like it!

Anonymous said...

I'm making this tonight, thanks for the help. The whole chicken I bought cost me five Canadian dollars. I think this is good value as it will serve for lunch meat and soup next day too.

Anonymous said...

OMG! I just found this recipe and tried it out....what an awesome gastronomic experience! I actually rubbed the chicken in the morning and let it sit all day until I roasted it and I think it marinated nicely. I fed it to my extremely picky brother and he loved it....I will make this again and again and again!

Anonymous said...

I made this roast chicken last week and am making it again tonight. I followed the recipe exactly and it was amazing. I added sliced sweet potatoes and onions coated with some extra virgin olive oil and garam masala powder to the bottom of the pan. It was amazing. The leftover chicken was used to make curry chicken salad for lunches for the week. Thank you!