Chicken Roast … Simply Nadan

Every time I visited my maternal family home, this was served as the piece de resistance! The potato fries in there was my favorite, that explains the excess in the picture.

Annamma Aunty defined the meaning of a food aficionado. She used the freshest produce and knew just the way to bring out the flavor in every dish she served. She also had a way to simplify the dishes without compromising on the taste.

This chicken roast is done in 3 simple steps. Cook the chicken to seal in the flavor. Make the onion-tomato base. Combine both and garnish! Deconstructed chicken roast, ready to serve!

Ingredients

Chicken -1Kg

Cardamom,cloves,cinnamon -2 each (optional)

Star anise- 1petal ( optional )

Turmeric – 1/4 tsp

Chilly Powder – 3/4 tsp

Coriander Powder – 1 tbsp

Coarsley ground ginger -1tbsp

Coarsely Ground garlic -1tbsp

Water -1/2 cup

Onion(sliced) – 3 nos

Potatoes (sliced for French fries) -3nos

Tomato- 3nos to be puréed (or tomato paste -3tbsp)

Kashmiri Chilly Powder – 1/2 Tsp

Curry Leaves -2 sprigs

Coconut Oil or any cooking oil ( as required for frying and cooking)

Preparation

• Lightly crush the spices. You could avoid the spices, if you are not a fan.

• Coarsely grind fresh ginger and garlic .

• Slice onions and potatoes for frying.

• Purée the tomatoes in a blender. This could be replaced by 3tbsp of tomato paste. That could reduce a lot of oil used otherwise as it is already cooked.

Method

• Take a deep dish kadai which has a cover.

• Place the cleaned and cut chicken. Add the crushed spices, turmeric, chilly & coriander powders, salt and water.

• Cover the kadai and cook on medium flame till the chicken is done. This step can be done in the pressure cooker too .

• Now fry the sliced the onions till they are golden brown and set it aside in two portions. You could place one portion on a spider web sieve, so that it remains crisp.

• Fry the sliced potatoes till golden in 3 portions. Set it aside. Now flash fry them all again together so that it remains crisp.

• Now take some oil (enough to cover the bottom of the dish) left behind from the fried onions and add the tomato purée.

• Add the Kashmiri chilly powder (or 1/4 tsp of chilly powder) to the tomato purée . This adds a deeper color and smoky flavor to the chicken.

• Cook the puréed tomatoes till the raw smell is gone. The purée would be reduced considerably and it will be more of a paste consistency, deep red in color. This step could be replaced with the shop bought tomato paste.

• Now add one portion of the fried onions to the cooked tomato paste. Sauté it for a while, till they are combined.

• Now add the chicken with some fresh curry leaves. Sauté till the water is reduced to the consistency of your choice. Add more salt if required.

• Garnish with fried onions and potatoes. Serve hot!

To download the recipe, please click on the link below.

Chicken Roast