Ingredients:

For the Chicken and Marinade

• 1.4 kg Chicken

• 1 heaped tablespoon garlic , finely grated

• one heaped tablespoon fresh ginger , finely grated

• 1 tablespoon fresh red chilli , finely grated

• one heaped tablespoon tomato puree

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• 1 heaped teaspoon turmeric

• one teaspoon of garam masala

• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin

• two teaspoons natural yogurt

• 1 lemon , zest and juice 

• two level teaspoons sea salt

For the Gravy 

• 3 small red onions , peeled

• 1 stick cinnamon

• 10 cloves

• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

• 3 level tablespoons plain flour

• 500 ml organic chicken stock

• fat-free natural yoghurt , to serve, optional

For the Bombay Style Potatoes

• 800 g new potatoes

• sea salt

• one teaspoon cumin seeds 

• ground pepper

• 1 heaped teaspoon garam masala 

• 1 lemon

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

• one teaspoon turmeric

• 1 bulb garlic

• one heaped teaspoon black mustard seeds (you can use yellow as well)

• 1 fresh red chilli , deseeded and finely sliced (you can leave the seeds if you like the heat)

• 2 tomatoes , roughly chopped

• 1 small bunch fresh coriander (you can use parsley instead)

Instructions: 

1. Slash the chicken’s legs a few times right down to the bone. Get a roasting tray slightly bigger than the chicken, then add all of the marinade ingredients and mix together well. Put on a pair of clean rubber gloves, then really massage those flavours over and inside the chicken so it’s smeared everywhere. Don’t be shy! Ideally marinate overnight in the fridge.

2. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and organize your shelves so the roasting tray can sit right at the bottom, the chicken can sit directly above it, right on the bars of the shelf, and the potatoes can go at the top. Halve any larger potatoes, then parboil them in a large pan of salted boiling water with a whole lemon for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Drain the potatoes then let them steam dry. Stab the lemon a few times with a sharp knife and put it right into the chicken’s cavity. Move the chicken to a plate.

3. Roughly chop the onions and add to the roasting tray along with the cinnamon stick, cloves, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, then whisk in the flour. Pour in the stock or water, then place this right at the bottom of the oven. Place the chicken straight on to the bars of the middle shelf, above the roasting tray. Cook for 1 hour 20 minutes.

4. Put another sturdy roasting tray over a medium heat and add the olive oil, the mustard and cumin seeds, garam masala and turmeric – work quickly because if the fat gets too hot the mustard seeds will pop everywhere. Halve a bulb of garlic and add it straight to the pan, with the sliced chilli and chopped tomatoes. Add your drained potatoes to the tray, mix everything together, then season well. Finely slice and scatter in the coriander stalks, and keep the leaves in a bowl of water for later. After the chicken has been in for 40 minutes, put the potatoes in.

5. Once the chicken is cooked, move it to a board and carefully peel off the dark charred bits to reveal perfect chicken underneath. Pass the gravy through a coarse sieve into a pan, whisking any sticky goodness from the pan as you go. Bring to the boil and either cook and thicken or thin down with water to your preference. Put it into a serving bowl and drizzle over a little yoghurt. Get your potatoes out of the oven and put them into a serving bowl, then serve the chicken on a board next to the sizzling roasties and hot gravy. Sprinkle the reserved coriander leaves over everything and serve with any condiments you like. Life doesn’t get much better.

Prep time: 1 day or 30 min (depending if you marinate the chicken overnight or not…)

Total time: Between 1 h, 50 min and 2h, 15 min

Notes:

• You can serve this oven roasted chicken recipe with Yogurt, Wedged Lemons, Poppadoms, Crunchy Salad (iceberg salad, ribbons of carrots, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper) and pickles of your choice.

• One additional note would be to marinate your chicken you can do it overnight or you could even leave it for 2 days in the fridge.

• In order to save some time you can even skip the marinating process all the way and simply rub the chicken and pop it in the oven. It will taste just as amazing!

• Also as a time saver you can skip the boiling part for the gravy. Just strain it when it comes out of the oven and serve it with a little drizzle of yoghurt.

• If you have any leftovers although we highly doubt it, you can reheat them in the microwave so they are ready to go.

• If you don’t like the idea of the microwave you can always reheat them in the oven.

Tip: You could use Mashed Potatoes instead of Bombay Potatoes and they would work just as well with this oven roasted chicken 😉

Here is the video where Jamie is preparing this recipe! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zus6FN5dIfI

Enjoy! 🙂 

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