When in Trust

In Savoury:

Honey-Saffron Chicken Roast

For when you’re in safe and warm company – even if it’s just yours.

Chicken	Whole Chicken (without skin[1])
Mace (whole)[2]	1 small bit[3]
Red Onion	1[4]
Honey	To taste (you can use Agave Nectar instead if serving someone who’d prefer a lower sugar level in the food.)
Whole Garlic	2 bulbs, skinned, not chopped
Ginger	Quarter of an inch, chopped very fine
Salt	To taste (put this in LAST because we’ll use a stock cube)
Coarse Dried Red Chilli	To taste
Whole Cardamom	5-6
Whole Cloves	2-3
Vegetable Oil	0.5 cup
Garlic Powder	1.5 teaspoons
Ginger Powder	1.5 teaspoons
Stock Cube	1 (chicken or even beef flavour)
Saffron	Two big pinches
Milk	A cup
Potatoes	4 medium sized, skinned and chopped into quarters

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[1] You can use a chicken with its skin on, but I’d suggest not to in this recipe. It’s up to you.

[2] I think it’s called Jodhri in Urdu… not sure, really…

[3] You can get mace as a powder or as a semi-dried spice that’s a bit soft and bendy… it looks and smells really mild, but in actuality, if you go too far with mace, and a tiny bit more than necessary is going too far, you’ll barely be able to stomach the dish. Be careful, be wise. ‘Less can be added to, more can’t be taken away from’.

[4] Yes, just the one, don’t put more in. Don’t. Just don’t. Because I said so.

Method:

1. Ok first off, prepare the chicken – take a fork and mark the chicken all over – this might make you feel like you’re stabbing a dead chicken, don’t worry: you are.
2. Crush half the garlic and mix it with one pinch of the saffron, both the garlic and ginger powders, half of the oil and half the stock cube. Massage this mixture for about ten minutes onto the whole chicken and then leave it to sit for a few hours in the fridge in a big bowl (which is covered with cling-film).
3. Chop up the onion. Finely chopped or diced, it’s not an issue. Place the chopped onion then into a pan (choose a pan that leaves about two to three inches between its sides and the chicken once you place the chicken in it), throw in the rest of the garlic and all the ginger. Pour the rest of the oil onto the onions, garlic and ginger in the pan. Note: Use a non-stick pan or if you don’t have a non-stick one, line a pan with foil and use that.
4. Heat the milk – until it’s quite hot but not boiling, put the saffron in and let it melt. Mix it to help it along, but don’t keep heating it. Add the whole cardamom and cloves. Finely cut the mace – mash it even, and add it to the milk as well. Put this flavoured milk to one side and let it steep (can you use ‘steep in this context?).
5. In a small bowl, mix some of the honey and coarse ground chilli – do this mixing for a little while so the flavour of the chilli really mixes in with the honey. Try and use a significantly larger amount of honey than chilli. Remember, the chilli will be tempered by the honey, so you don’t need to be too afraid of it. As always, however, know your limits.
6. Once the chicken’s been sat there waiting in the fridge for a few hours, preheat the oven to about 220^oC (No I don’t do Fahrenheit, figure it out yourself, I’m sorry. Always thought Fahrenheit was for the weak). Take out the chicken from the fridge, and place it in the pan (on top of the garlic, onions and ginger – don’t move them aside to make space for the chicken – just dump the chicken on top of them. Place the potato quarters around the chicken (also on top of the onions and whatnot).
7. Pour the flavoured saffron-milk mixture (with the all the bits – so let the cardamoms and cloves pour in as well) over the chicken – try to only cover the chicken. If you feel you need it, put in another pinch or two of salt. Pour in half a cup or one whole cup of water. (Purists will be upset about the water, but tell them to be quiet and let you do the cooking).
8. Cover the chicken with either foil or if the pan comes with an oven-proof lid - use that, and place it in the oven.
9. After about 20 minutes, take out the pan and see how the chicken is doing and smelling. You can sometimes tell salt content and taste through smell, if it smells too salty then put in another chopped potato and pour half a cup of water over the chicken.
10. Cover again and put back into the oven. 10 minutes later, turn the heat down to 200^oC and let it keep going.
11. After a half hour passes, take the pan out, uncover the chicken and pour the honey-chilli onto the chicken. Make sure it’s well coated, use a basting brush if you want to get to every part (if you’re using chicken with the skin on, I suggest use the brush). Put it back into the oven.
12. Check the progress after another half hour. Uncover and let cook at 180^oC for another half an hour, checking every five minutes to make sure it’s not burning. If it’s getting too crispy, cover it again and continue until you feel it is done or the time is up.

Note: Total Oven time is about 1.5 t0 2 Hours[1]. If at any point it seems to be drying too much, pour in a little bit of water.

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[1] Shouldn’t be more than 2 hours in my opinion.  

The making of the Sauce:

1. Once the chicken is done… Everything should smell nice. Put the chicken onto an oven-proof plate along with the potatoes into the oven, preferably covered and the oven better be turned off! This’ll keep it warm.
2. Now turn back to the pan with its contents. The garlic ought to have gone all mushy and so should have the onions and to some extent, the ginger. Get a potato masher or the back of a fork, and mush everything left in the pan.  In a glass of lukewarm water, put the remaining half of the stock cube and the remaining honey and mix. Pour this into the pan and mix with the contents. Take the mixture and pour it into a frying pan and heat until you have a sauce – don’t be afraid to taste to check, just don’t burn your tongue or your finger.

 

Serve.