Roasted whole chicken makes a nice treat any day and on every occasion but the fear of messing it up keeps a lot of people from preparing this yummy recipe.
The most important thing you need to do when roasting whole chicken is to make sure that the chicken is thoroughly seasoned. There are many types of seasonings and vegetables you can use for your roasted chicken and there a many ways to go about it, just like this method.
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 big stock cube
- 1 teaspoon dry ground cayenne pepper (or ground black pepper)
- ½ teaspoon ground ehu seeds or Calabash Nutmeg (optional)
- 1 cigar cup or 180g long grain parboiled rice
- Vegetables
- 1 Carrot
- 1 handful green peas (or green beans)
- 1 medium onion
- 1 big stock cube
- 2 teaspoons curry powder (no chilli)
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 medium Irish potatoes
- 1 teaspoon thyme.
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Directions
- Parboil the rice, rinse and put in a sieve to drain. If you will be using only rice as your side dish, you will need to parboil enough rice for this purpose.
- Put it in a bowl, add the curry powder and mix well.
- Add the diced carrots, green peas, diced onions, thyme, salt to taste and some vegetable oil. Stir well and set aside.
- Wash the chicken and dry with a towel.
- Stuff the inside with the seasoned rice and vegetables. Do not over fill it because remember that this rice is only parboiled and it will rise as it cooks.
- When done, tie the legs of the chicken. This helps the chicken maintain a more presentable shape. You don’t want it sagging and all over the place.
- Set your oven to 180°C (350°F) to preheat.
- Rub some vegetable oil on the chicken, sprinkle the blend of seasonings we prepared earlier and rub it all over the body of the chicken.
- Make sure the chicken’s wings are tucked away under the chicken or into the string you used to tie up the chicken.
- If you want to use only rice as your side dish, then you should have prepared enough and if using potatoes, place the wedges in a bowl, add the remaining seasoning from the one you rubbed on the body of the chicken, add thyme, salt to taste and some vegetable oil.
- Toss to evenly distribute the seasonings and set aside.
- Dish the remaining rice from the stuffing into an oven tray leaving some space at the centre for the chicken.
- Place the chicken at the center.
- Add the seasoned potatoes around the chicken and place in the preheated oven and bake for one and a half hours.
- The chicken is done when it is golden, the rice inside the chicken is well done and a cut into the chicken thigh shows a white flesh with some succulent juice.
- If the skin is pinkish or even red, the chicken is not done.
- That’s it! It’s not that hard after all. Serve portions of the chicken with the rice and roasted potatoes.