Saturday, May 10, 2014

Chicken on the Fly (!)

Homemade chicken with spicy Indian flavours - 3 step grilled chicken!




Step 1:
Wash small, thawed chicken and cut in half. Drain all water and keep aside.
If the chicken is larger, make a few cuts (without cutting into pieces) to let the masala seep in properly.
The 'Cornish hen' in American supermarkets tastes great! Folks in India, get smallest whole chicken you can find (fresh / frozen; think Godrej chicken, < 1 kg)

Step 2:
In a bowl, mix ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric, salt and chopped coriander (cilantro / dhania).  Beaten yoghurt is optional. 
Cover chicken evenly with this paste. Let it stand for 5 mins. Preheat oven till then (~ 350°F).






Step 3:
Place chicken on grill rack with a tray / baking dish below to catch drippings.
Set timer for 30 mins initially.
After 30 mins, flip over and set for another 10 - 15 mins.
Check if done - meat should be tender and should cut easily.
Add 10 mins at a time and keep checking (no need to flip over each time!)
Cooking time will depend on size of chicken and oven used.
When done, add a squeeze of lemon and dig in!
Toaster-ovens can perfectly fit a small chicken. You could as well use a regular oven if cooking a larger bird or if you don't have a table-top oven.

Hope you have a great weekend lunch, catching up on your favourite series online while savouring this!

1 comment:

Rohan Kamath said...

Nicely done Abhishek. Here's a couple of things I do differently when I make this.
I make a few small cuts to let the marinade penetrate. Marinating it for 8 hours or overnight lets the flavor penetrate a lot more. Also, oven roast it at 275F for 2 hours, rest for 20 minutes and then broil at max heat for 5 minutes for some char. The chicken becomes very tender and remains moist and juicy and literally falls off the bone.