Roasted Chicken with Garlic Bread

I'm not bragging here, but this is one of my signature dishes adapted from a recipe passed on by a friend. I have tried and tested this quite a number of times and it has always tasted so good. In fact, this is the only dish i am confident of making, when i have guests over. Yes, i panic when people announce they are coming over for a meal, invariably ending up causing havoc in the kitchen and a not-so-great outcome. Ro comes to my rescue and he is so confident about cooking and gratefully takes over. I give moral support, BTW!

Chicken Roast

Chicken- 500gms (Thighs, drumsticks, breasts anything but bone-in pieces are the best and preferably without skin)

To marinate:

Chilli pwd- 3 tsp

Coriander pwd- 2 tbs

Ginger garlic paste- 2 tbs

Turmeric pwd- 1/2 tsp

Garam masala- 1/4 tsp

Meat masala- 1 tsp

Lime juice- 2 tsp

Fennel seeds- 1 tsp

Butter- 1 tbs

Salt- to taste

To bake:

Onion- half, cut in rings, or more if you please

Mix all the ingredients in the 'to marinate' section and make a paste out of it. Make gashes on the chicken pieces and generously rub the paste on to the pieces. Keep the marinade refrigerated over night or at least for 5 hours.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Transfer the marinade onto a baking dish and cover with foil paper and bake for 30 minutes on one side. Take the dish out, flip the chicken pieces, cover and bake again for 30 minutes. Remove the foil paper, stir in the onion rings and bake open for another 30 minutes (approx) or until the chicken pieces become a dark brown and the onions are well mixed in the gravy. Serve hot with rice, roti or bread.

I wanted a bit of gravy so i didnt leave it on till it became dry and thats why the colour isnt a dark brown yet. But the longer you keep the better it is, if you need it dry, that is!

Notes: The dish is very very spicy and if you are not a fan of spicy food, reduce the chilli pwd quantity. I personally love the spice.

If you don't want the chicken dry, you do not have to bake it for the last 30 minutes, you can reduce it to about 15 minutes, just enough to cook the onion rings. This goes great with rice.

Marinating it for a minimum of 5 hrs is apt, but its ok if you reduce it to about an hour or so, if you are in a hurry. It tastes just as nice. Have tried it :)

You can throw in any veggie possible. I have tried it with baby potatoes, carrots, trimmed beans and peas and is a whole meal on its own.

Garlic Bread

The one in the picture is store bought since its just move convenient, cheap and tastier (well..i am not sure i should have mentioned that, since i am trying to promote my blog and not blurt out that store bought ones are any day better). But my mom makes yummy garlic bread back home and this is her recipe.

Bread- 1/2 a loaf

Garlic paste- 1 tbs or more depending on how strong you want it to be

Butter- 2 tbs at room temperature

Mix the garlic and butter and make a paste out of it. Spread the paste on the bread slices and arrange them one over the other (stack them up). Cover the entire loaf with foil paper and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for about 20 minutes or till the ends start becoming nice and crispy. Serve hot with soup or as mains.

Note: If you want to jazz it up a bit, add some herb like thyme or sage.