Roast Chicken with Spinach stuffing - A Boxing Day Special

Yes I know the last thing you want to hear right now is Roast or anything remotely close to it. So then why am I posting this recipe now. Well it is because I know many of you either had a festive Christmas meal(s) and may not even know what Boxing Day is all about. However there are many others globally who enjoy a public holiday on December 26th, i.e. the day after Christmas and traditionally celebrate Boxing Day. 

So what is Boxing Day - the simple explanation as per modern day practices is a day when all the leftovers of Christmas Day is shared. It may also be a day when those friends or relatives you haven't celebrated and shared the meals of Christmas Day comes over for a meal or two or more. 

After a festive meal or even a Christmas party, it may be that you do not have any leftovers to share, so hence the Roast recipe I am about to share with you. This roast has a healthy element in terms of its stuffing and is no problem at all to cook up as it has a simple marinade and does not require much of visits to stores (which I am sure your feet probably would not allow you to do). 

No need for any close monitoring either. Just pop it into the oven and it is ready to hold center place on your Boxing Day table along with any leftovers or sides. 

Some interesting learning of the origin of Boxing Day can be learnt here.

The marinade is learnt from my darling Mummy and in fact she was with me in Chennai (visiting us in February 2015) when I cooked this last roast with her.

On with the recipe...

What you need:

• 1500 gms of chicken (skin-on), cleaned well
• 2 fairly large bunches of spinach, chopped roughly
• 1 large onion, finely diced
• Ginger-Garlic paste - 2 tbsp
• 1 heaped tbsp of Chili powder
• 1 heaped tbsp of Garam Masala
• 1 tbsp salt
• Water to combine the marinade
• Olive oil

The Make:

Preparation Time: 10 minutes | Marination time: 30 minutes to 2 hours | 

1. Slit the chicken skin across the breast, legs and wings. Make a marinade of the ginger-garlic paste, Chili powder, Garam masala and salt. Rub generously all over the chicken and within the cavity as well. Set aside for 30 minutes up to 2 hours minimum.

2. Meanwhile in a large wok, drizzle some olive oil, saute some onions until lightly brown and then add the spinach leaves. Cook until the residual water disappears or up to 5 minutes. Set aside.

3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

4. Next stuff the cavity of the chicken and all around the roast with spinach leaves and place on a roasting tray. Loosely cover the chicken with foil paper. Roast for 45 minutes to an hour.

Serve hot with your Christmas day leftovers and sides.

Brahmin Sambar (Lentil based vegetable chowder)

I can tell you that Sambar is one of the many dishes I refused to try until I knew that I could make it just right! There are a few such dishes I took time to cook not withholding Keralite Fish curry which I have made countless times now, avial, etc!

The best Sambar I have had thus far are three, my Mom's (as always), my hubby's Mom (I refuse to call her my MIL as she is one of the sweetest people I have been blessed with. In fact when I was getting married, I was warned by my Dad not to upset her ever! Apparently everyone in the families knew of her nature and my dad knows what a little tom-boy I could have been. I can tell you for certain I have never upset her till date although I have cried on her shoulders a couple of times. She is an excellent listener too! I feel sorry for those who crib about their mom in law! Anyways I better stop about talking her. I know a zillion women who would be jealous at knowing that such a MIL exists :)! I don't want any bad eyes to fall upon her :D!) The third is of a woman I don't want to rave about as she turned out to be a thief - she was our part-time maid and there is this tradition of a new mum having mostly vegetarian food right after having a baby esp. during the first 40 days. This lady used to make me some amazing Sambar after I had Izzy. If I could I would ask her how to make it in lieu of some of the money she stole but even if I knew her number she probably would not answer as she owes us a lot of money (not considering the cash she stole from both Dad and Mom).

This was a recipe I have tried on my own considering all three recipes plus some advice from my friends who come from a Brahmin household. Remember Sambar can have as many variations of vegetables. I have suggested ones that I have recently tried. You can opt out any vegetable with which you are not comfortable.

Sambar goes well with rice, idlis (steamed cake of rice) or dosas (Fermented crepe made from rice and ground pulses). I remember in Dubai we used to conveniently get  cut vegetables called Sambar mix vegetables either from Sunrise Supermarket or Lulu. No such luck here! :-(

You need:

• 5-6 small onions, crushed with the back of your knife
• 7-8 cloves of garlic, crushed and diced (Nos of cloves are optional but I like my sambhar to be accented with garlic flavour)
• 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds
• Vegetables - carrots (2 nos), drumsticks(3-4 nos, each stick cut into 2" each), eggplants(4 nos small sized), ash gourd (400-500 gms), potatoes (2-3 nos), okra (300-400 gms), tomatoes (2 nos); chopped in medium bite size pieces
• 1 cup Toor dal
• 1 tbsp Chana dal (optional) [I sometimes add masoor dal or moong dal instead of chana dal]
• 1 tbsp Sambar powder (My marital mom introduced me to Brahmins' Sambar powder. In case you do not have Sambar powder where you stay, you can attempt to make it. Recipe here or here)
• 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder
• 2 pinches Asafeotida
• Tamarind (1 gooseberry sized ball ), soak in hot water and strained
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tbsp Red Chili powder
• 1 cup gated coconut (optional) [I would add coconut very rarely - not a practice at home]
• Curry leaves, 1 sprig
• Salt to taste

For the seasoning:

• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• Curry leaves, 1 sprig
• Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp, chopped finely
• Oil

The Make
 Cooking Time: 25-30 minutes | Preparation time: 10 minutes | Serves 3-4 adults

1. In the pressure cooker, cook the washed/cleaned toor dal, add a pinch of turmeric powder and asafoetida.
2. In a large covered pot, cook the vegetables (except the okra and drumsticks) with the turmeric powder, salt and tamarind juice.
3. Meanwhile, in a small pan, add a drizzle of oil, the onions, half quantity of crushed garlic and sambar powder. Saute well taking care not to burn it. Next add in the okra and drumsticks and saute for about 2 minutes. Add this to the cooked vegetables.
4. Next in the same small pan, add another drizzle of oil. Toss in the curry leaves, chana dal, fenugreek seeds, red chili powder and coriander powder. Saute well. Then set aside to cool and grind it a paste. You can add the coconut (optional) at this stage and make it into a fine paste.
5. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the ground mix and pressure cooked dal to it.
6. Add some oil to the small pan, add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and remaining garlic. Saute for a minute on medium-low heat. Set aside.
7. Add salt to taste to the cooked vegetables and allow it to run to a boil.Once bubbles appear, add the seasoned oil from the small pan.
8. Garnish the Sambar with the coriander leaves and serve hot with rice of your choice or idlis/dosas.

*The pictures I have added are from two versions of Sambar I made. Variations are in terms of the dals used and the choice of vegetables.