Red chilli garlic chicken roast

This is a lighter version of the traditional zafrani chicken. Those who do not want the saffron flavour and the spicy taste can go for this chicken roast which is a equally good yet different in flavour and taste.

Ingredients:
Dried red long chillies – 4 – 6
Garlic cloves – 4 medium size
Cumin whole – 1 tspn
Black pepper – 1/2 tspn
Salt to taste

Method:
1.Clean a whole chicken, drain and towel dry. Rub it with a little salt(1/4 tspn) and set aside.

2. Grind the dried red chillies, garlic cloves, cumin and black pepper to a slightly coarse paste.

3. Make slits in the chicken here and there. Rub the chicken with the ground paste, put it in a roasting pan, leave to marinate for 15 mins.

4. Add  1 cup of water to the roasting pan and bake in a pre-heated oven with the lid tightly closed for 1 hr at 325 degrees fahrenheit.

5. Now change the setting to convection roast, set the temperature at 375 degrees and roast uncovered for 20 – 30 mins basting with the juices every now and then to keep it moist. Don’t worry if you do not  have a convection oven, it is enough if you just change the temperature.  Half way through the cooking you may turn the chicken over gently to make it golden brown on both the sides. At this stage the chicken just comes off the bone and is so juicy and flavourful.

6. Remove chicken gently from the roasting pan and put it on the serving platter. Pour some of the remaining juices on the chicken and serve hot with basumati rice. Enjoy!

Tips:

 For a tangy taste you could add 1 tbs of sun-dried tomatoes to the above ingredients before grinding them to a paste and rub the chicken with salt and 1 tbs of lemon juice.