Kerala style Baked Chicken

Here is an easy and simple baked chicken for you to try over the weekend. A chicken that is bursting with flavours ; heat from the spices and tang from the lime. It’s a perfect non-veggie deal to compliment any vegetarian meal. I normally prepare this when I cook Dal curry with any un-leaved bread like chapatti, puris etc. Left-over chicken can be used in salads, wraps or sandwiches and makes a good brunch. I start checking for doneness after 45 minutes as chicken tends to get dry if it is over baked. Read this interesting article at Collaborative Curry on how to get juicy baked or grilled chicken. I saw the article after I baked this chicken, else I would have definitely given it a go.

This chicken bake also goes off to Kerala Kitchen event started by Rose of Magpiesrecipes.

Kerala style Baked Chicken

Serves 4-6

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Baking time: 50min – 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 cleaned and skinned whole chicken – 1 kg

2-3 Tbsp vegetable oil

Vegetables of your choice like onions, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, whole garlic etc

For marinade:

1 ½ Tbsp minced ginger

1 ½ Tbsp minced garlic

1 ½ Tbsp Mild Red chilli powder like Kashmiri Chilli powder

½ tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice

2 tsp Coriander powder

2 – 2 ½ Tbsp water

Salt to taste

Preparations:

1. Wash chicken well; make 2-3 shallow gashes on thick parts like breast, thighs and legs.

2. Make a thick marinade by mixing all the ingredients under marinade.

3. Marinate the chicken in and out with this marinade. Cover the bowl with a cling film and refrigerate overnight for maximum flavour  or a minimum of 2 hours.

4. Bring the chicken to room temperature prior to baking.

5. Preheat the oven to 190 Degree Celcius and place the chicken on a baking tray. Spread the vegetables to be baked around the chicken. Drizzle the oil all over chicken and bake it for about 50min -1 hr, turning once or twice in between. You can squeeze extra lime juice on top if preferred while serving. Serve it alongside any dal dish and roti or rice.

N.B: I start checking my chicken around 45 minutes by poking thighs and breast part with a skewer. If clear juice oozes out from the poked area, Chicken should be done. But if you bake it further, there are chances of it drying.