Curry Roasted Chicken

Since my surgery, I have been trying to get back in the kitchen, but I have been working long days at work and so I haven’t had a lot of energy to cook. Most of our meals have not been special enough to blog about. Last Shabbat, I decided it was time to cook again. There was a whole chicken staring at me in the freezer and I knew that I wanted to try something new. I had a hankering for curry, so what better than curry roasted chicken. You can be very flexible with this recipe by using a curry and other spices of your choice. This chicken is even better the next day. You could easily make this dish the night before and pop it in the oven the next day.

Curry Roasted Chicken
Ingredients
  • 1 roasting chicken about 2kg 4lb
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon nigella seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
  • 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds
  • 4 green cardamom pods
  • 1 tablespoon medium madras curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1 head garlic cloves separated and unpeeled plus 6 cloves, peeled
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated ginger
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 shallots unpeeled and quartered
  • 3 sticks cinnamon
  • 1 cup chicken broth
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 230C (450F). Pat chicken dry with paper towels. Place on a rack in a small roasting pan or baking dish. Set aside.
  2. Spices for Curry Rub
  3. In a small frying pan over medium heat, combine cumin seeds, nigella seeds, black peppercorns, coriander seeds and cardamom pods. Swirl until lightly toasted and fragrant, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly; grind using a mortar and pestle. (To save time, or if you don't have equipment, use pre-ground spices and toast in pan 45 seconds.) Mix with curry powder, cinnamon and red pepper flakes. Add six finely chop peeled garlic cloves and combine with ginger and olive oil in a small bowl. Rub mixture over entire chicken.
  4. Curry Roasted Chicken
  5. Place the unpeeled garlic, shallots and cinnamon sticks inside the chicken cavity. Tie legs with kitchen string. Roast 30 minutes before basting with 1/2 cup of the chicken broth. Roast 20 minutes more, then baste with the remaining 1/2 cup of broth. Continue cooking until the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a knife and meat is no longer pink, about 1 hour and 15 minutes in total. Remove from oven and let stand for a couple of minutes.