Easy Baked Chicken and The Kerala Kitchen June 2011 Event Announcement


Last month the amazingly sweet Sarah of Spoonful of Delight hosted the Kerala Kitchen while I was busy packing, shifting houses, unpacking and rescuing a little monkey who loves to dive headfirst into cardboard boxes. Head on over to her wonderful site here to check out the awesome collection of Kerala inspired dishes we received from our awesome members. Now that I am all settled into my new home and new kitchen, I am happy to be hosting again! Sarah had a neat idea to make it even easier for you to submit entries, with a simple form that you can see at the end of this post, so no need to fuss with emails. Thanks for that, and for being such a wonderful person Sarah! 



Last week was another good friend, awesome blogger and my co host of Kerala Kitchen Ria's birthday and I celebrated with Chocolate Oreo cake. Today I am posting her grandmother's recipe for a delicious tender and juicy baked chicken which is also super easy to make. It earned her mom the Pachakarani ( Queen of cooking) title at a cookery competition so you can be certain this is a surefire hit! 


It has become my staple whenever I am pressed for time or not in the mood to do too much chopping and stirring. It was a huge hit at Easter when I made it with whole Cornish hens ( available in most grocery stores here) or you can just ask your butcher for small, young hens. The third picture was a quick shot before taking the dish over to my friend's house for Easter lunch.She liked it so much she made sure to place it at the center of the table and request the recipe which she then sent to her sisters! The kids (including the little monkey who recently graduated from baby food) loved it because it wasn't too spicy for them. Leftovers (if any) also make for great sandwiches or over pasta.


This can also be made with quail or kada if you are lucky enough to find them, though Ria's mom makes them with regular whole chickens or chicken pieces.
I found sone kada mutta or quail eggs (which is a special treat at my grandmothers home) at a Japanese gorcery store here, so I served them alongide the chicken, though you can just use regular harboiled eggs. I highly recommend also tossing in some potatoes and tomatoes (cut in half) along with the chicken. The potatoes bake to tender perfection and the tomatoes get roasted and slightly caramelized and the juices run out and flavour the chicken sauce.

Baked Chicken and potatoes 
Recipe Source: This is Ria's family favourite recipe from her blog here
Active time: Less than 15 mins
Baking time: 1 hour to 1 hour 15 mins

Ingredients:
  • Whole chicken with skin - 1 kg ( I used 4 large chicken breasts with the skin and bone instead)
  • Ginger paste -1 tbsp
  • Pepper powder-2 tsp
  • Soya sauce-3 tbsp
  • Salt- to taste ( I did not add as soy sauce is very salty)
Method:
Marinate the chicken with the above ingredients and leave it aside for 2 hours ( I rubbed the marinade over the chicken in an oven safe dish (corningware/pyrex) and put it in the fridge.
Ria also suggested cutting the skin, and lifting it to put the marinade under the skin as well, so that it is absorbed by the meat under the skin. Else once you eat the skin, the flesh might be quite bland. 
After 2 hours, rub the marinade that has collected at the bottom of the dish over the chicken ( you can use a basting brush for this if you have one) 
Bake at 180 degrees C (I baked it at 350 F)  for 1 hour turning the chicken over twice in between and basting it with the sauce/gravy/juices that forms and collects in the pan.
When I made this with cornish hens, I baked them for 1 hour at 350 F and then I brushed them with a little oil ( can use butter/ghee as well) and then baked them at 400F for a futhur 10 mins to crisp and brown them a little more.
I also put potatoes cut into small cubes and grape tomatoes cut into quarters till the stem but not all the way through and rubbed with a little oil, salt, pepper and oregano  in another baking dish and popped them into the oven with the chicken too, to serve them on the side

Brown Sauce/ Gravy ( Optional) :
Gravy/Juices that form in the baking dish from the baked chicken
Cornflour-2 tbsp (diluted in 1 cup of water)
Pepper -to taste

Once the chicken is baked, there will be a lot of gravy inside the baking dish.
Pour it into a sauce pan and heat it. Add cornflour diluted in water along with the pepper and stir.
Bring to a boil. Check for seasoning.
Pour it into a sauce boat & serve hot with chicken.

Serving suggestions:
Oven roasted or cooked and sauteed veggies like cauliflower, broccoli. and peas
Mashed potatoes.
Cooked, halved and pan fried potatoes or oven baked potatoes or sweet potatoes
Onions cut into rings and sauteed.
Garlic bread or white bread, or your own freshly baked bread
Pasta- I cook the pasta adding a glug of olive oil to the cooking water. After draining quickly, I toss the slightly wet pasta with a tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper and the juices from the pan as well as the potatoes and tomatoes. 

Verdict: I did not make the gravy, instead I cut some potatoes into cubes, rubbed them with a little oil, salt and pepper and put them in the baking dish along with the chicken and they cooked along with it, absorbing the delicious juices. The chicken was tender and juicy, cooked just right, with a gorgeous crispy skin. So delicious!

KERALA KITCHEN JUNE 2011

Would love to have your Kerala inspired dishes over at The Kerala Kitchen cooking even this month. Do submit your entries using the easy to use form below


Since the form seems to have exceeded quota, you can now email me your entries to magpiemails AT gmail DOT com with the subject line Kerala Kitchen. Please mention your name, name of the dish, link to your dish post and a photograph if you wish, else I if you prefer, I can take it from your post. Please do also include a link to this post and The Kerala Kitchen   in your submission posts to ndicate that you are taking part in our event and to spread the word about the event. Thank you :) 


Would be great if you can also add a comment saying you have submitted an entry so that I know that the form builder is working fine and I don't miss any entries.In order to encourage and reward fresh content and especially because we have a top contributor award category, we no longer accept old entries ( i.e posts that were not made this month) Please also ensure that the photos you use are your own or that you have written permission to use other's photographs, with due credit given. If you have any questions, just drop a comment or email me at magpiemails AT gmail DOT com. Non bloggers can email me their entries too and I will include it in the roundup which will be posted at The Kerala Kitchen blog at the end of the month.

21 comments:

  1. Finally! Finally I get to see this here :) Thanks for baking this Rose! Like I mentioned over chat, do try with the gravy next time, it's totally awesome!!

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  2. Hehe yes, I have made it atleast 5 times since I told you I'd made it and only got to posting it now! So awesome it is Ria, even without the gravy which I will make soon, since I anyways make this so often!

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  3. I love flavored and baked whole chicken... Looks gorgeous...

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  4. looks delicious! baked chicken is my favourite thing to cook :) And its always a hit! I should try this recipe next time. In fact I think I try it with quail meat :) Thanks for the idea!

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  5. And thanks for the kind words, Rose :) Nice to see the yummy dishes you churn out from your new kitchen. And hugs to your lil one! I love reading about his playful ways :)

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  6. Just a simple ingredients but it turned out perfect and beautiful!

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  7. Irresistible baked chicken, love it simply with some salads for my lunch or for dinner, marvellous..

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  8. sounds pretty easy..its my lazy day lunch..roast chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy :)
    shud try this marinade the next time.

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  9. Love roast chicken and this is just the sort of recipe I'd love to cook -- simply prepared, with some veg sides! Hey is it necessary to marinate for 2 full hours..? and do you think it'd be as flavorful and juicy without the skin? Third picture kandittu kodiyavunnu...!

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  10. You are right Priya, it makes a nice healthy meal with a fresh salad!
    Nisha I make this so many times, guess I am lazy by nature! Love it as a sandwich or on pasta as well!
    Nashi- I have marinated it for about an hour too and I have also used skinless chicken breasts. It is pretty forgiving either way!

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  11. Wowo this looks so so good, i am sure if i make this for my family they will worship me ;-)

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  12. hehe Finla you are so funny! But yes, this dish for very little effort yields lots of appreciation!

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  13. wow..Baked chicken looks awesome..
    first time to your blog,glad to follow you :-)
    visit my blog too n follow if you like
    http://juls-tryntaste.blogspot.com/

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  14. hey,I wished to send my entries but there is no form ;it says it has exceeded d quota..do help out..Thanx for visitng my blog!

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  15. Thanks for pointing that out Julie, you can email me the entries now, have removed the form. Will put up a new form if I can.

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  16. kk..sure will send in my entries asap..

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  17. hi magpie....my first time here...i keep seeing your name in FB...:)...the baked chicken does look great even without the gravy...:)....would love to try this recipe out guyz....:)

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  18. Rose, Ive emailed you my entry for KK on 30th :)

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  20. Thanks a lot for the beautiful lines and enjoy your sightseeing Kerala Holiday Packages from Hyderabad freely and don’t forget to check out the Kerala Tour Packages

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