Roopa’s lemon grass and turmeric chicken with potato salad and date and tamarind chutney
One of my favourite dishes in the book, this recipe comes from my friend Roopa Gulati. Her mum used to make it. It is actually very simple to cook – it’s just spiced roast chicken with dressed potatoes, after all – but it is satisfying on every level: it looks like a painting when you set it on the table (all those dark colours); has contrasting flavours (slightly bitter turmeric beside sweet dates); and is an Indian dish that has a fairly limited ingredients list so it’s not time-consuming to make. You ideally need fresh turmeric; it looks like a skinny, bright-coloured root ginger. You’ll find it in larger supermarkets and ethnic shops. If you can’t find it, use 1 tbsp of ground turmeric instead, though it doesn’t make a paste. I couldn’t publish this recipe without its delicious accompaniments, Cumin and lime-scented potato salad with date and tamarind chutney.
Ingrediënten
- 4 cm 1½in fresh turmeric
- 2 lemon grass stalks
- 3 red chillies chopped
- 60 g 3oz galangal or root ginger, peeled and chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1½ tsp cracked black peppercorns
- 1.5 kg 3lb 5oz chicken
- 2 limes halved
- small bunch of Thai basil or mint if you can’t find Thai basil
- 125 ml 4fl oz chicken stock (optional)
Instructies
- The day before, peel the turmeric and roughly chop (best to wear clean kitchen gloves; that yellow colour stains everything).
- Remove the coarse outer layers from the lemon grass and trim the top and base.
- Chop the rest – the softer bit of the lemon grass – as finely as you can.
- Combine the turmeric and lemon grass with the chillies, the galangal and salt.
- Blitz in a food processor or blender with the vinegar and oil and add the cracked pepper.
- Make slashes in the chicken on its breasts and legs with a small sharp knife.
- With gloved hands, rub the paste all over the chicken, pushing it into the slashes and inside the bird, too.
- Cover loosely with cling film and marinate the chicken overnight in the fridge.
- Bring it to room temperature before cooking.
- Truss the bird, if you like; it does make it look neat.
- The next day, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
- Stuff the cavity with three lime halves and the Thai basil, squeezing the remaining lime half over the bird.
- Roast in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes.
- Three-quarters of the way through the cooking time, add the stock or the same amount of water to the tin and scrape the sediment off the bottom to mix in with the liquid.
Notes / Tips / Wine Advice:
Serve the chicken with the juices from the pan, the potato salad overleaf and a cucumber raita.
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