Oh, if you could only get a taste of this one. There’s researched, tried and tested recipes and then there’s completely accidental hits. This one’s the latter. Chicken in chilli and garlic is probably common in most households, but adding a couple of extra things made this one even better. Firstly, the chilli garlic paste was home made with only deseeded Kashmiri chillies and lots of garlic. I keep this in my fridge for those times of spicy needs. Then, I pounded some coriander leaves and stems with more garlic, peppercorns and coriander seeds in my mortar and pestle. Lastly, some maple and chilli garlic glaze on the chicken – all this gave my favourte roast chicken a glamorous makeover.
For the homemade chilli garlic paste, simply blanch 6-7 deseeded chillies in hot water for 5-7 mins. Blend them with 10-12 garlic cloves. That’s all. Keep this in your fridge to add to meat dishes or vegetable roasts. I marinated the chicken with this overnight.
Yield:
3-4 portions
Prep time:
15 mins
Cooking time:
45 mins
Ingredients:
Chicken – 3 full legs cut into pieces
Chilli garlic paste – 3 tsp (for marinade) + 2 tsp (for glaze)
Coriander – handful with stems and chopped
Garlic – 6-7 cloves
Peppercorn – 1 tsp
Coriander seeds – 1 tsp
Maple syrup/honey – 1 tbsp
Oil – 2 tbsp
Salt
Method:
Marinate chicken with 3 tsp chilli garlic paste overnight.
In your mortar and pestle, pound the coriander leaves, garlic, peppercorns and coriander seeds together till you have a coarse paste. You can use the small jar of your blender to blend this too.
Rub the coriander paste and salt on the chicken and keep aside.
Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C while you move on to the next step.
Heat a nonstick pan and place the chicken on it to brown on both sides. Around 40-45 secs on each side.
Then, place the chicken pieces on your baking tray.
Mix 2 tsp chilli paste with the maple syrup and brush on the chicken pieces.
Pop it in the oven for around 45 mins.
Note:
I made a little extra something as a sauce for it.
In the same pan you seared the chicken in, add 1 tbsp maple syrup, juice of one lemon, crushed thyme leaves and salt. Let it bubble over low heat. Take it off and pour all over the chicken once it’s out of the oven.
