Mummy's Roasted Chicken with a twist

Mummy's Roasted Chicken has always been my personal favourite. Although initially when I made this at home 'A' would not like it at all as it would not get roasted properly or would turn out dry. I realise that I should have placed a foil covering the chicken as well as my cooking range was as old as I was and had lost it full capacity. However this cooking range has been a prized possession and has seen us through some great dinner parties and feasts at home. I finally gave in and 'A' bought me a brand new cooking range on my birthday. I have tried a different type of Chicken Roast recently which I will post very soon.

Roasted Chicken

I am posting this for a dear friend Savina Gois who plans on roasting one of my variants of roast chicken (with BBQ Sauce and Pepper marinade) for her loved ones this weekend. Hope to receive her pictures soon so as to share them with you.

Mum usually makes hers with Red Chili Powder, all spice (Indian) powder (Garam Masala), Salt and Lemon juice. I added a few new variants and it turned out good. In fact, 'A' particularly enjoyed this one as it turned out to be nice and juicy and well-done. The one thing that I missed was to take pictures of the chicken once cut. It was quite late into the night and we were really hungry. Hope to get you shots of this the next time the Chicken visits my oven :)

You need:

• 1 kg whole Fresh Chicken (Skin-on) or Frozen Chicken (Skin on) *You can take out the skin later, it is just to retain the juiciness of the chicken during the cooking process. My vendor did not provide the Fresh Chicken with skin on, so I had to source a new vendor.
• 6-8 cloves of garlic, crushed to a paste
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/2 cup of mustard (I used my Homemade variety of mustard)
• 2 tbsp pepper powder
• 1 tbsp of paprika
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp of rock salt or kosher salt
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp of butter or oil

Method:

Cooking Time: 45 minutes to 1 hour | Preparation Time: 20 minutes | Serves 4-6 adults

1. Clean the chicken and with your knife make short cuts in the thighs, wings, breast and back of the chicken. 
2. In a bowl mix the pepper, garlic paste, paprika, salt, honey and mustard. Marinate the chicken with the mixed ingredients and allow it to rest for at least 2 hours. You can leave it longer.
3. For the Apple Cider, you could also add it to the marinade mix. However I did not want the apple cider to overpower the other ingredients, so what I did was during the cooking process, I inserted a sachet made of foil containing the vinegar in the chicken so the vinegar could slowly release during the cooking process. The sachet had a tiny opening about the size of a mustard seed. 
4. Line a baking tray with foil and dab some butter or oil on the base. Carefully place the chicken onto the tray. If your oven does not have upper heating, then cover with a foil (no need to tuck the sides into the tray).
5. Preheat the oven on a high (about 250◦C) for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to medium (about 215◦C) and place the chicken into the oven and leave it to cook for 40-45 minutes.

6. 

   Marinated chicken flipped over

   

   Marinated Chicken on its back

   Remember I mentioned that I had not covered the chicken with foil, so I had to physically flip the chicken over. Always lower the heat if you attempt to do something like this. You can flip the chicken over after the first 25 minutes. Do not forget to turn the heat back up after flipping it over.
7. Once the 45 minutes is up, use a skewer to check if the chicken is cooked well. If not leave it on for another 10-15 minutes.  Dress with lemon juice or leave it on the side in case of those who do not prefer it with lemon juice. You can also try it with my Homemade BBQ Sauce. This is not a very spicy dish, so kids love it!
8. Serve with some warm bread or pita bread or flavoured rice. You can also set up a nice side salad. I will have some tried and successful salad recipes to follow shortly. Bon Appetit! I assure you that your loved one with thank you for this meal.