Cook_s_Country_-_October_2019

26 COOK’S COUNTRY • OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2019

ONE PAN

I LOVE INDIAN food, but I don’t
cook many Indian-inspired dishes at
home. So to expand my repertoire,
I looked to an icon of Indian cuisine,
Madhur Jaff rey—and specifi cally to her
recipe for Durban-style roast chicken.
My goal was to take some seasoning
cues from her recipe (she calls for coat-
ing a whole bird with a puree of garlic,
ginger, lemon juice, and spices) but add
a starch and vegetables for a fl avorful
one-pan dinner.
While Jaff rey’s recipe calls for a
whole chicken, I chose bone-in chicken
pieces for ease (no carving!) and a
quicker roasting time. Knowing that
chicken parts take about 45 minutes
to cook in the oven, I started looking
for a vegetable and a starch that would
cook at roughly the same rate. I chose
potatoes and caulifl ower, both cut into
bite-size pieces, thinking I’d lay the
vegetables in a 13 by 9-inch baking dish
and then throw the seasoned chicken
pieces on top and roast it all together.
Since a lot of curries that use those two
vegetables also add chickpeas to the
mix, I decided to follow suit and tossed
in a can of drained chickpeas.
For the spice puree, I followed
Jaff rey’s cues and tossed fresh garlic
and ginger into the blender along with
the juice from two lemons. Want-
ing a simpler approach to the spices,
I opted for ½ teaspoon each of sweet
curry powder and garam masala; to-
gether these blends provided a deeply
complex hit of fragrant spice and
seasoning. You would not believe how
good the test kitchen smelled as this
was cooking.
But there were a few problems. For
one, the chicken pieces tasted great,
but the vegetables (which I’d seasoned
only with salt and pepper) were a little
bland. No problem; I’d simply reserve
half the potent spice puree to toss with
the vegetables and keep half for the
chicken pieces. Since the potatoes and
caulifl ower were a smidge too fi rm
after 45 minutes, I popped the dish
with the vegetables back into the oven
for 10 minutes once I’d removed the
perfectly cooked chicken. Problems
solved, and dinner served.

ONE-PAN CURRIED ROAST CHICKEN

WITH CAULIFLOWER, POTATOES,

AND CHICKPEAS

Serves 4

We developed this recipe using Pen-

zeys Sweet Curry Powder, a mail-order

curry powder, which is neither too

sweet nor too hot. We call for garam

masala in this recipe, but you can omit

it and increase the amount of curry

powder to 1 teaspoon, if desired. This

dish is great served with Raita Sauce

(recipe follows).

¼ cup lemon juice (2 lemons)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 (2-inch) piece ginger, peeled and

chopped coarse

3 garlic cloves, peeled

1¾ teaspoons table salt

1 teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon garam masala

1 small head caulifl ower (1½ pounds),

cored and cut into 1-inch fl orets

1 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled

and cut into ½-inch pieces

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed

3 pounds bone-in chicken pieces

(2 split breasts cut in half crosswise,

2 drumsticks, and 2 thighs), trimmed

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position
   and heat oven to 425 degrees. Process
   lemon juice, oil, ginger, garlic, salt, pep-
   per, curry powder, and garam masala in
   blender until smooth, about 30 seconds.
   Toss caulifl ower, potatoes, chickpeas,
   and ¼ cup spice puree together in me-
   dium bowl. Transfer caulifl ower mixture
   to 13 by 9-inch baking dish.
   2. Pat chicken dry with paper towels
   and transfer to now-empty bowl. Add
   remaining spice puree to chicken and
   toss until chicken is evenly coated.
   Place chicken, skin side up, on top of
   vegetables in dish. Roast until breasts
   register 160 degrees and drumsticks/
   thighs register 175 degrees, 45 to
   48 minutes.
   3. Transfer chicken to serving platter
   and tent with aluminum foil. Stir veg-
   etables in dish and return dish to oven.
   Continue to roast until fork inserted
   into potatoes and caulifl ower meets no
   resistance, about 10 minutes longer.
   4. Transfer vegetables to platter with
   chicken. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve.

RAITA SAUCE

Serves 4 (Makes about 1 cup)

Do not use nonfat yogurt here.

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

2 tablespoons chopped

fresh cilantro

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 small garlic clove, minced

½ teaspoon table salt

Pinch cayenne pepper

Whisk all ingredients together in bowl.

Season with salt to taste. Serve.

Curried Roast

Chicken and

Vegetables

This inspired one-pan dinner couldn’t be easier.

by Cecelia Jenkins

Two Indian spice blends, curry powder and garam masala, add flavor.

Nailing the Timing for Tender Chicken and Vegetables

We cooked the chicken atop a mix

of caulifl ower, potatoes, and chickpeas.

We removed the chicken and roasted

the vegetables for 10 more minutes.