I am a woman who can extol the virtues of a tasty roast chicken forever!! However even I fancy a change from a basic bird every now and then, with this in mind may I present to you Indian style roast chicken.

I took a lunchtime trip to the amazing Asian Food store on Mary’s st on Friday to stock up on spices (and maybe some Barfi). While I managed to resist the tasty hot food counter the amazing aroma stayed with me all day. This recipe was a no brainer then when I was doing my shopping planning on Friday and saw the chickens on special in Aldi.

What you get is the most delicious moist meat with a lovely spiced crust. I haven’t even mentioned the sauce – The Chap coined the phrase “cravy” because it’s curry/gravy and it’s so nice you crave more. I shall say no more.

You will need:

• 1 large chicken (timing is for 2kg)
• 1/2 pot(250ml) any fat free natural yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 inches ginger minced
• Juice 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1tbsp ground coriander
• 1 tbsp tumeric
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 tbsp cumin
• 1/2 tbsp garam masala
• 1/2 tbsp cayenne
• 1/2 tbsp salt

The night before/morning of:

Get your chicken in whatever you’ll be roasting it in – nothing too big or the marinade tends to burn

Mix all of the above together and smear all over the chicken inside and out, keep the juiced half lemon and put it in the chicken carcass.

Cover it with foil and stick it in the fridge until you’re ready to cook it.

Cooking your chicken:

Take your chicken out of the fridge to come up to room temperature while you heat your oven to 190c

Put the chicken in, still covered in foil for 1hr 30 mins

Take it out and turn the heat up to 220c, remove the foil and put back in for 20 mins until golden and cooked through. Test the fattest part of the thigh with a meat thermometer – it should be 75c. If not just poke the same part with a skewer if the juices are clear it’s chicken time!

Remove to a board and cover with foil while you get on with the Cravy

At this point I must confess I forgot to take pictures because I was half watching the Tour De France while trying to prepare dinner and take blog photos –  I am not the best multi tasker!

Cravy Ingredients:

• Tasty pan juices from the chicken
• 2 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water
• 100ml light coconut milk/ 2 tbsp greek yogurt
• 1 tsp tamarind paste*

Pour all of your delicious pan juices into a small pot on high heat, add your cornflour slurry and bring to a boil.

Simmer until thickened then add your coconut milk and tamarind and test for seasoning.

If not using the coconut milk add the tamarind and then off the heat add the yogurt just before serving

*If you can get tamarind paste do – it’s one of those things that if you’re making Indian food that will elevate it. It’s a sour treacley type of business that adds that certain oomph. In this case if you don’t have it, don’t worry at all – you might want a splash of lemon juice or pinch of sugar to taste

Serve your chicken with rice and vegetable or get fancy and make spiced roast potatoes and quick cauliflower curry . Recipes to follow at a later date when I’m not dying for a post dinner cuppa and Barfi