Roast Chicken

Roast chicken, yummmmmmmy!

This is the first mat saleh (white man) food I learnt to cook after I got married to a Frenchman.  My mother-in-law showed me how to do it and a few mat saleh friends.  I learnt to cook Roast Chicken because everytime we get invited to any dinner with mat saleh friends, it is always always Roast Chicken.  My roast chicken has come a long way since I first started cooking roast chicken.  Since I am a fan of kay tooi (chicken drumstick), I now only cook roast chicken drumstick, very lazy.  I end up cooking only the drumstick because a whole chicken takes forever to cook and have to check them every now and then, and I hate the most is having to cut up the chicken before serving, it's such a MESS!

Today, I have 8 people eating so I cook 8 chicken drumstick, so easy, no need to fight over the chicken all same all fair.  I normally buy 5 kgs of frozen chicken drumstick and just have to de-frost the exact amount I need.   I cook chicken drumstick for all my curries too!

Marinate the chicken with oregano, thyme, tarragon, rosemary, salt and pepper.  Rub them with mustard and then olive oil.  If you don't have all the herbs just marinate with whatever you have.

Place the chicken drumsticks in a roasting pan.  Today I feel like having chicken soup with potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes and garlic.  So I topped the chicken with about 5 medium size potatoes, 2 medium size carrots, 1 onions, 3 tomatoes and 5 garlics.  All peeled and cut into bite sizes.  Then I add about 6 cups of chicken stock, only a bit of the chicken are exposed after adding all the above.  I forgot to take a picture, sorry....

You can add whatever root vegetable you like, some people add apples, chestnuts, bacon, the list goes on... and you can add less chicken stock or just plain water.  I add a lot of water because lazy cook don't have to turn the chicken all the time, just leave them in the oven at 160°C for 45 minutes, no need to peek, no need to check, just remove from the oven after 45 minutes.  I always cook the chicken early and when time to serve I remove the chicken from the soup and roast them at 190°C for a further 10 minutes, together with  the soup seperately in the oven.

Chicken soup with potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, onions and garlic

Roast chicken separate from the potatoes for final roasting

Chicken all ready to be served with potatoes, carrots, so easy, no sweat at all, no mess!