Ingredients
Serves 6-8
One whole free-range chicken
1 whole lemon – thinly sliced
Juice & zest of one whole lemon
4-6 shallots – cut into quarters
2 tsp ground cumin
1 ½ tsp five spice or alternatively you can use (½ tsp ground cinnamon and½ tsp ground cloves)
Ground ginger & garlic
Few curry leaves – finely chopped (optional)
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1Tbs paprika
Olive oil
1 Tbs margarine or butter
Seasoning soy sauce
Drizzle of clear honey (optional)
Method
- Start by preparing the marinade – In a small bowl mix all the dry spice ingredients followed by a good drizzle of olive oil, and the rest of the wet ingredients, give it a good mix and set aside.
- Butterfly chicken by placing breast side down and using heavy-duty kitchen scissors or shears to cut along both sides of backbone, turn chicken over and open it, press gently to flatten it. Using a sharp knife slash into the chicken thigh (this is optional). This will help the chicken to cook quicker, and enable the flavours/seasoning to penetrate right into meat.
- A little tip, using your finger gently run under the chicken skin in such a way to separate the skin from the chicken. In doing this I like to rub the spice mix in this cavity rather than rubbing the spices all over the skin surface – this gives the chicken a more flavorsome taste without burning the spices leaving you with crispy spicy chicken skin.
- Rub the prepared marinade spice inside and under the skin cavity and paint rest of the marinade on surface, placing the lemon slices around.
- It is best to marinate the chicken beforehand then place in a dish cover with cling film and leave to marinate overnight of few hours before. When ready to cook take the chicken out of the fridge to come to room temperature
- If cooking in the oven, preheat it to 200°C. Place the chicken skin side up in a roasting dish and roast for 45 minutes at 200°C. Baste the chicken through, scatter the shallots around in the baking tray reduce oven temperature to 180°C and cook for another 30minutes until the chicken skin is crisp and the meat almost falling off the bone.
- Transfer chicken to a carving board, and leave to rest 10 minutes. Cut chicken into portions, and serve with roasted vegetable. Served here with beetroot raita and coriander flavoured rice.
Follow Brinda on Twitter for more recipes and ideas!
