Spicy Roast Chicken

Here’s a spicy roast chicken recipe you can prepare for your next Friday lunch or for whenever you have people over. For maximum flavour and if you have time, allow the chicken to marinate for around an hour after rubbing it with the spice mixture.

In this recipe we’ve used Sadia Whole Chicken which we got from one of our partners S&O (Standard & Origin). The chicken is slaughtered by hand according to Islamic rites and when roasted it turned out juicy and just perfect.

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

• 8 garlic cloves
• 1 lemon
• 2 small onions
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 2 tbsp. chilli powder
• 1 tbsp. mixed dried herbs
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 ½ tsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1.2 kg Sadia Whole Chicken (with skin)

Instructions:

1. Grate 4 garlic cloves and zest the lemon.
2. Chop the onion into chunks, slice the (zested) lemon and crush the remaining 4 garlic cloves and set aside.
3. In a bowl combine the grated garlic, lemon zest, salt, cumin, chili powder, mixed herbs, black pepper, olive oil and butter. Set it aside.
4. Pat the chicken dry with tissue paper or paper towels and place it in on a baking tray. For easy cleaning later on, you can line the tray with aluminum foil. Also, pay attention to drying the chicken really, really well.
5. Use a clean pair of scissors to trim off the excess fat around the neck area and cavity of the chicken. Using a knife, make gashes on the legs.
6. Wash your hands thoroughly and then gently slide your finger between the skin and the chicken breasts, loosening up the filaments that hold the skin to the flesh. Do this with the gashes you made on the legs too; use your finger to create space between the thighs and the skin.
7. Take half of the mixture you prepared in step 3 and insert it into the spaces between the breasts and the skin as well as the space between the skin and the legs via the gashes. Try to spread it in there evenly.
8. Rub the rest of the mixture all over the exterior of the chicken, massaging it in very well.
9. Place half of the onion chunks and lemon slices along with the remaining garlic inside the chicken cavity. Place the chicken on your roasting tray, breast side up and arrange the remaining lemon, onion inside the tray.
10. Preheat the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.
11. Place the tray in the oven for 200 degrees and bake for 1 hour or until the chicken is cooked through (when you cut into it, the juices run clear) and the chicken skin is reddish brown.
12. Let the chicken rest for 15 minutes before cutting in.

Note: If you can’t find Sadia Whole Chicken from a shop near you, contact 301 5533 or 301 5522.