The “It’s Not Easy Being (Thai) Green” Roast Chicken

On the March long weekend I got it in my head that I wanted to roast a chook for dinner. But I decided I wanted to mix it up and had a few ideas on the flavour front. So quick, quick! To the fridge and pantry it was hunting time!

Ingredients

• I large whole chook
• 4 green chilli’s
• A 2cm piece of ginger
• Large bunch of coriander
• 1 can of coconut cream
• 2 limes (zest and juice)

So it’s very easy. Throw all these ingredients (just not the chook!) in a food processor or Thermomix and blitz it together. Sorted!

Then I have this stand up roasting pan that I bought from Coles from the Curtis Stone range a while back but it’s essentially like beer can chicken, which some folks may have previously cooked on the BBQ. You basically just want the chook standing up.

So with it elegantly propped up you want to loosen the skin so that when you pour in the sauce it’s right up against the breast meat. Pour in as much sauce as you can and then pour the rest over the bird.

Now an extra thing I do at the point is cut off a decent piece of butter and balance it on top of the bird. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper and it’s time for the oven. I had the oven around 180C and it was in there for nearly and hour and a half for a 1.5kg chicken. While it is in the oven make sure you baste the chook several times. And for its last 10 minutes I cranked the oven to 210C to crisp up the skin.

I’ve made this twice now so here’s two before and after action shots from each time.

Round One

Round Two

So easy as that and slightly different to your standard Sunday roast.

Round One

Round Two

I served it up with steamed rice and also kai lan with oyster sauce. I enjoyed the flavours, quite Thai inspired and the chilli added a little kick, which well balanced the rice.

How do you change up your roast chook? Would love to hear your recipe 🙂