This is a great way to jazz up a traditional Sunday roast where the chicken is marinated in yoghurt and spices making it meltingly tender. . The flavours here are really fantastic and really penetrate the flesh of the chicken. Try to by a free-range or organic chicken, as the flavour is always so much better.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg Whole chicken
- 2 Large onions, peeled and cut into thick slices
- 1 tblsp Rapeseed oil
- 1 Lemon, halved
- For the marinade:
- 2 Large garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tblsp Freshly grated root ginger
- 1 tsp Ground cumin
- 2 tsp Ground coriander
- 2 tsp Garam masala
- 1 tsp Hot paprika
- 1 tblsp Ground turmeric
- 2 tblsp Rapeseed oil
- 250 ml Natural yogurt
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the couscous:
- 3 Cardamom pods
- 200 g Couscous
- 2 tsp Vegetable stock granules
- Handful fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
- 100 g Toasted silvered almonds
Method
- To make the marinade, mix the garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, garam masala, turmeric, paprika, olive oil and yogurt in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper.
- Slash the chicken legs several times with a sharp knife (this is to help ensure crispy skin once cooked), then rub the marinade all over the chicken, both inside and out. If time allows put the chicken in a large food bag, or covered in a non-metallic dish, and leave to marinate for at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours is best.
- Take your chicken out of the fridge 30 minutes before it goes into the oven. Preheat the oven to 230C.
- Make a trivet with the onions in an oval casserole dish or roasting tin and then drizzle over the rapeseed oil.
- Season with salt and pepper and sit the chicken on top.
- Put the lemon inside the chicken’s cavity and place in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 200C.
- Cover the chicken loosely with foil and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and roast for another 50 minutes, basting the chicken halfway through cooking.
- Meanwhile, prepare the couscous. Bash the cardamom pods with the back of a knife and place them in a bowl with the couscous.
- Add the stock granules and cover with boiling water, cover with cling film and leave until all the water has been soaked up and the couscous is nice a plump Using a fork fluff up the couscous when it’s ready and fold in the coriander and almonds.
- Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes before you carve it, then arrange on warmed serving plates with the couscous to serve.