Roast Chicken… with Green Chillies you say?

Suddenly it’s winter here. One day we were soaking in perspiration and blaming the afternoon sun and whoa, suddenly sky is covered with grey misty clouds and we are shivering to our bones. Out came the overalls, sweaters, scarves and we changed to hot, hot beverages at all hours of the day. Spices lose their subtlety and pronounce their presence in a curry with more resonance. It’s time for a season change meal, a meal to celebrate the transition…a meal that will rejoice in the bounties of last summer and the impending winter spectacles. It’s time to call some friends and share our fortune.  The menu is simple, roast chicken served with raw green mango salsa and green salad. Well, it isn’t that boring as the salt, pepper, butter and herb roasted chicken. Obviously I can’t be that predictable. I added a twist of my own, inspired from my own culture… my home. 

Roast Chicken… Bong Style

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1.5 kg

Garlic - 15 cloves

Green Chillies - 10 to 12 (Adjust if you can’t take the heat and scrape down the seeds also)

Fresh Coriander, very finely chopped - 1 cup

Mustard Oil - Half a cup

Salt - as per taste

Lemon, halved - 1 whole

Garlic, halved - 1 whole head

Procedure:

1. Make a fine paste of garlic, chilli, fresh coriander and two tablespoon of mustard oil. This is the marinade for the chicken.
2. Clean the chicken. Remove the wishbone or butterfly cut it (I am guessing you know the method or I will soon put up a tutorial for the same, you can also ask your butcher to do it). Do so if you want to avoid mess during carving the bird in front of the spectators.
3. Now rub the chicken with the marinade. Use mustard oil generously. Make sure to put marinade and oil under the skin also.
4. Put the chicken in a roasting tray. Put halved lemon and garlic head inside the cavity of the bird. Secure the neck and stomach cavity with help of twines.
5. Roast at 180 degree Celsius for one hour. Just check by cutting a little of the leg. Take out and rest while cover the bird with aluminum foil to keep juice intact.
6. Slice and serve. I chose green mango salsa as a side. You can find the recipe link below. You can also serve it with spicy cumin potatoes or aubergines cooked with fresh fenugreek.

Our friends loved it so much that I think I am going to serve this roast chicken for Christmas also this year.  What about you?

Green Mango Salsa:

 

Spiced Orange Upside Down Cake…Yummylicious

It’s been almost a year. A year of oblivion.  A year of soul searching.  A year spent in facing my fears head on and feel alive. I just made one blog post last year and took a long sabbatical. Guess not much of a passionate blogger, ehh? Well, something happened... something so powerfully negative that I have to go do something to feel good about myself again. I went to work in print and web magazines with almost no experience. I completely changed my career and survived. Moreover my work was appreciated. I was happy and my life changed again. J got relocated and we came to a new city.

Starting a new life in a new city with a small kid is not easy. Rather it is challenging and deliriously intoxicating. Every experience is novel, everything seems beautiful. I live in a city now where horse-drawn cart and super luxury sedans cruise the city streets side by side. People are friendly and helpful. Neighborhoods are clean, covered with trees and adorned with parks. Every day when we go for our walk the street is covered with flowers. I feel blissfully happy.

There is one more reason that I fell in love with this city. It is a gourmet heaven. You can find any ingredient, however gourmet and rare it is, in a normal market. And the restaurants... almost of any cuisine, any standard can be found here. This city is, I tell you, a foodie’s heaven. I think I have arrived... to my haven. I feel the stirrings of passion, the beckoning of inspiration again... and I found oranges... in mid-April!!! Now I had to do something, something amazing... Voila! Decision is made and spent an afternoon in the kitchen. My prized ‘Spiced Orange Upside Down Cake’ is ready to serve.

 

Ingredients:

For the Cake

Flour – 200 gms

Butter – 200 gms

Caster Sugar – 200 gms

Eggs – 3

Baking Powder – 1tsp

Vanilla Concentrate – 1 tsp

Orange Flavouring – 1 tsp

Orange Zest – I used the zest I got from two oranges

Honey or Caramel – 4 tablespoons

For the Poaching Syrup

Large Oranges - 2

Sticks of Cinnamon – 2

Star Anise – 4

Water – 100 ml

Sugar- 100 gm

 

Procedure:

I do not have a baking oven. Everything is done using a microwave oven and gas stove. I forgot to use a baking parchment, which is a huge mistake I realize now. I recommend covering the base of the cake tin with a baking parchment after you grease the tin well.

First, take a pan, put water, sugar and the spices in it and set it on low heat. Slice the oranges thin and round, keeping the peel on.  After the sugar is dissolved, place the oranges in and cover. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Then turn off the heat and let the orange slices soak in the syrup.

Grease a cake tin with butter and cover with baking parchment.

 

Sift together flour and baking powder. Cream the butter and sugar in a different bowl. Add eggs to the butter mixture one at a time and beat well. Add the dry mix spoon by spoon and mix well. Add the vanilla concentrate, orange flavoring and orange zest. Using a spatula, mix the batter well.

 

Put a little honey covering the base of the cake tin. You can use caramel also. Now take the orange slices out of the poaching liquid and arrange in a circle at the base of the cake tin.
 

Pour the cake batter over the orange slices and bake for 40-45 minutes at 180 degrees, or till a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let it cool completely and then turn it over onto a plate or cake stand. Serve with a drizzle of the poaching liquid. Sadly it doesn’t have much of a shelf life and if you are not careful you may miss the chance to taste it also! Living with two boys has its own price... sigh.