Honey- Mustard and Ginger Roast Chicken

Another weekend has just gone by. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly these two precious days zoom past. After a long time I cooked on a Saturday evening on the insistence of my husband. This recipe has a preparation time of less than 15 minutes. The rest one hour your oven does the work for you. So you effectively need 15 minutes of your time on this.



Lets Go:
You'll need a whole chicken (this one was about 1.2 kilos) with skin on of course.
Wash chicken well, specially the cavity.
Rub the chicken with 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. You may replace red wine vinegar with 1/2 tbsp Soy sauce. They taste different but both work.
Keep in refrigerator for atleast 1 hour.
Take chicken out and dunk the following in the cavity: a whole pod of garlic, 4- cloves, one onion skin on.
Now grate some ginger all over the chicken. Rub enough butter to thinly cover the chicken. Tie chicken legs and wings to keep the whole chicken together. Use normal thread soaked in water.

Place chicken in an Oven at 170 degrees and rost for 30 minutes with the bottom (tummy) side up. After 30 minutes turn it over so that the chicken's back is on the exposed side. Roast for another 15 minutes at 170 degrees. Nor mix 1 tbsp of honey , 1/2 tbsp of mustard, 1/2 tbsp melted butter and mixed herbs. Rub all over chicken. Roast again for an0ther 15 minutes. The chicken is done when a knife is easily inserted in the thickest part of chicken and juices run clear.

Your Honey-Mustard and Ginger Roast Chicken is ready. Collect all the liquids that collect in the pan. Put heat on and reduce the liquids a little. Gravy is ready. Serve it along side with Roast chicken.

MOMOS!

Momos- Perhaps among the most popular street foods in India. A long lane in a Delhi marketplace seems incomplete unless it is dotted with a Momowalla selling these delicacies...at astonishingly low prices I might add, probably another reason why they got this popular.

Its amazing how good something so simple to make can taste. Be it fried or steamed. And its healthy too.

Recipe:

Make a soft (but firm) dough using maida (white flour) and a pinch of salt. Knead dough till it springs backs when pressed. Dont over knead. Keep aside for half hour wrapped in a cling film.

Filling:

Mix 1 small cup raw chicken mince with 1/4 cup chopped spring onions, 2 tsp finely chopped ginger, 4 tsp finely chopped garlic, 3 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves, 1/4 cup grated carrots, 4 tsp soy sauce, 2tsp fish sauce, and black pepper and salt to taste. I find adding about 2-3 meduim sized prawns, finely chopped to this mixture takes up the taste by several notches.

If making Sea Food Momo: Keeping the rest of the quantities same, reduce soy sauce to 4tsp and garlic to 3 tsp. Sea food reqires less salt and there is salt in soy sauce and fish sauce so be careful while adding salt.

Vegetarian momo: Use a medley of grated carrots, finely chopped cabbage, roughly chopped peas, sweet corn, spring onions, cauliflower any veggie you like basically, specially root vegetables like potatoes, even radish if you like it . Add to a cup of veggies, 3tsp soy sauce, 1tsp finely chopped ginger, 2 and 1/2tsp garlic, finely chopped coriander, salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with the following sauce: Its simple to make and will stay in fridge for a week. Tastes great with momos

Heat a tsp of vegetable oil in a small pan. Fry 5 tbsp of finely chopped garlic, and 2 tsp of finely chopped green chillies. After 1 minute, add 1/2 cup vinegar, 2 tbsp sugar and let boil till vinegar reduces a little- say, 5-6 minutes. Add 1 tbsp soy sauce, tiny pinch of salt and red chilly paste. Stir. Take off Heat. Let cool completely before serving.

To make the red chilly paste simply soak dry red chillies for half hour in warm water and grind to a paste.