Sumac - Zatar Roast Chicken (Done Two Ways)

This recipe is the perfect example of ‘Ugly-Delicious’.

I’d been itching to make this ever since a friend (Priyanka) had cooked this for a potluck, one that I’d been unable to attend. I troubled Priyanka with so many questions as I hate for a recipe to go wrong. Quite a many people say, people who cook by ‘andaz’ (without ingredient proportions), by instinct, are better cooks, I’m certainly not the type to cook ‘by andaz’. Give me perfect recipes and I will surely re-try them in my kitchen. I guess it’s Andaz Apna Apna!

The marinade gives the roast a dark muddy look, but, oh those flavours… they pop ever so gorgeously on the palate. I promise you, this one’s a keeper, guys!

I did not change much in the recipe shared by Pri. The one thing my Bawi genes forced me to incorporate, though, were potato roundels. This recipe is courtesy Priyanka Anand, the girl who ever so kindly, and patiently, answers my most ridiculous recipe queries. *sheepish grin* Priyanka, thank you, ESM! *evil grin, you know why*

Ingredients:

2 whole chicken legs
1 large onion, cut into thick semi-circles
2 large potatoes, scrub, retain skin and cut into half centimetre roundels
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 medium-sized garlic, finely minced (I used a garlic press)
½ - ¾ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 – 1½ teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder (I used MDH Deghi Mirch powder)
2 teaspoons Zatar
3 teaspoons Arabic All-Spice
3 teaspoons Sumac
Salt to taste
Butter to baste while roasting

Method for Marination:

1. Cut deep gashes on the chicken legs.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Mix olive oil, minced garlic, turmeric powder, chili powder, Zatar, Arabian All-Spice, Sumac and salt.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Apply the marinade to the chicken legs, onions and potato roundels and keep aside, in the fridge, for at least an hour. (The chicken can be kept in the fridge for hours, or even overnight)

Method of Oven Roast:

1. Preheat the oven for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees C.
2. Lay out the potato roundels at the bottom of the baking pan and set the marinated chicken on top of the potatoes. Spread the remaining potatoes and the onions around the chicken, in the baking pan. The extra marinade can be spooned onto the chicken if you prefer a spicier roast.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Slide the baking pan into the oven and bake at 180 degrees C for 45 minutes.
4. At the 45-minute mark, baste the chicken with butter, increase the oven setting to 200 degrees C and roast for 7 to 8 minutes more.
5. Bring out the chicken and allow to rest for a few minutes. Serve with gorgeously roasted potatoes and onions. (Scrape off the potatoes stuck to the bottom of the tray; those are the best bits - I served a lightly crisped Buttered-Zatar-sprinkled Garlic Bread with the roast chicken. You may, or may not, serve it with a bread of your choice)
   
   

   

   Ugly-Delicious, indeed!

Method for Air-Fryer:

1. Make a make-shift squarish pan with a double-layered aluminium foil to fit the air-fryer basket. The make-shift pan should be slightly smaller than the size of the air-fryer basket. All four ‘edge’ sides of the air-fryer basket need to be open so as to allow proper airflow.
2. Preheat the air-fryer for 3-4 minutes at the 200-degree setting.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Put the marinated chicken legs (underside facing up) in the make-shift pan and lower the pan into the air-fryer basket.
4. Air-fry for 12 minutes at 200 degrees.
5. At the 12-minute mark, flip both the chicken legs and continue air-frying for another 10 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
6. At the 10-minute mark, baste the chicken legs with a wee bit of butter (optional, but of course, I did) and continue air-frying for 2 more minutes.
7. Remove the chicken from the air-fryer and serve it with onion rings and a wedge of lime. (I was a tad lazy hence no onion rings, I merely made do with a wedge of lime)
   
   
   
   
   

Chef Notes:

1. The Arabic spices mentioned in the recipe are all available on Amazon (some on Big Basket, too). Go buy them coz they will not go to waste. Why?? Coz once you make this roast; you’re going to want to make it time and again. This is my promise to you!!
2. The bake time will depend entirely on your oven – so please keep an eye on the roast and adjust the timing accordingly. I say this, as the bake time in my oven differed greatly from the bake time mentioned by Priyanka in her recipe.
3. At the time of this bake, I had run out of olive oil hence opted for the extra virgin version and it worked just as beautifully, so don’t let that stop you from baking these babies.
4. You may share the direct blog link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.

Some more photographs:

Spicy Pork & Noodle Omelette

This is the first time I’ve tried a Marion Grasby recipe. When I saw it on YouTube, I was quite apprehensive. I felt like saying, “Damn girl, who the hell adds noodles to an omelette?” As fate would have it, just a couple of days later, I had some left-over Maggi Chicken Noodles (made with a spoonful of my Multi-Purpose Masala added). I told myself, ‘what the heck, let me give this a try.’ Luckily, Marion had mentioned we could use any noodles (ramen, egg, rice - just about any would do). I picked up the phone and ordered some oink mince. That night, I whipped up this Spicy Pork & Noodle Omelette for dinner. I’m so darn glad I did. This was a super delish dinner! Regardless of whether Marion reads this, I have to say, ‘Thank you, Marion. This recipe is a keeper!”

Marion claims this is a 10 minute-week night recipe. Had she sent me her team to keep everything prepped, it would have been. *wicked grin* In all honesty, it’ll take about 45 minutes. Faster than most recipes, sure; but 10 minutes?? Hell, no!

I followed Marion’s recipe with some tiny changes. I’m going to pen this exactly as I made it. This is my way to ensure the recipe does not go wrong when you recreate it. This recipe makes three (2-egg) omelettes.

Ingredients for Pork Mince:

250 grams pork mince (I used Prasuna Pork Mince)
2 cloves garlic, grated or chopped
2 Thai bird’s eye chillies, chopped
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 teaspoon sweet dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons red chilli powder (I used Deghi Mirch powder0
1 cup baby spinach, chiffonade cut
1 tablespoon oil

Ingredients for Omelette:

6 eggs (2 eggs per omelette)
3/4th teaspoon (¼ teaspoon per omelette) white pepper powder
3 teaspoons fish sauce (1 teaspoon per omelette)
150 - 180 grams cooked noodles (50 - 60 grams per omelette)
6 to 7 tablespoons oil (2 to 2.5 tablespoons per omelette)

Garnish:

Juliennes of chillies or chopped coriander leaves

Method for Pork Mince:

1. Heat oil and add pork mince. Sauté for a few seconds.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Add the chopped garlic and chillies.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Sauté the pork mince until it loses its clumpy texture and begins to get grainy. If need be, use a fork to rid the mince of its clumpy texture.
4. Continue sautéing the pork on low flame until it is nearly cooked. (If the mixture feels too dry, add a couple of teaspoons of water - don’t worry, it’ll dry up by the time the pork gets done)
   
   
   
   
   
5. Add fish sauce, sweet dark soy sauce, chilli powder and sauté until the flavours come together.
   
   
   
   
   
6. When the mince is cooked, add the spinach, and toss for half a minute or a minute, until the spinach wilts and cooks.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Remove the cooked mince into a bowl. Keep warm until needed.
   
   
   

Method for Omelette:

1. Break 2 eggs in a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon fish sauce, ¼th teaspoon white pepper powder and whisk the eggs to mix well. Do NOT over froth.
   
   

   

   I made the first omelette with three eggs hence this photograph. Trust me, go with two eggs. 

   
   
2. Add 50-60 grams cooked noodles and give the eggs a gentle whisk.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Heat oil in an 8-inch pan.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Add the egg-noodle mixture. LOWER heat and allow the omelette to cook until golden brown. (This is an Asian style omelette, this is not a colourless French omelette)
   
   
   
   
   
5. Flip the omelette carefully and cook until the other side is a gorgeous light yellow.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Flip the omelette once more on to its golden-brown side. Fold it into a half-moon.
   
   
   
   
   
7. Carefully remove the folded omelette onto a plate.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Spoon the warm pork mince over the omelette and garnish with julienned chillies or chopped coriander. Serve.
9. Repeat the process to make two more omelettes.

Chef Notes:

1. No salt was used for this recipe as fish sauce lends saltiness to the oink (pork) and the eggs.
2. Yes, please USE fish sauce as the flavour it lends to this dish is AMAZING!!
3. Use any mince (chicken, beef, buff, mutton). The original recipe used pork mince, and I 'laaau' pork, hence went with the original protein.
4. I had these gorgeous Thai bird’s eye chillies hence used them. Go with any chillies available in your pantry.
5. Marion’s recipe used Thai basil leaves while I opted for baby spinach. Why? Coz, I do eat basil, but I prefer baby spinach. If using spinach, I’d advice you stick to baby spinach.
6. This is a very forgiving recipe, so except for insisting on the use of sweet dark soy and fish sauce, go with whatever you find in the pantry with regard to noodles, herbs, and garnishes.
7. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes and my photographs on any blog-site or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   

Some More Photographs:

Multi-Purpose Mutton Soup (Broth / Stock)

Winter is coming (hehehe – not everyone will get this, but that’s okay 😉) and what better than a piping hot, robust soup/broth to sip on. I saw a mug of soup on my friend Khuzaan’s Insta stories and the soup looked so yum that I could not help but reach out to ask for the recipe.

The recipe belonged to his gym trainer, Murtaza’s mum, Mrs. Irfana Nasir. She ever so kindly sent the recipe within minutes (via Khuzaan). I gave this a try the very next day. This is one of the easiest broth/stock recipes you will ever come across and yet, the broth turns out so darn flavourful. I’ve now made so many times that I’ve kind of lost count. Yes, this is that good a recipe. It is such a simple recipe that even a newbie in the kitchen can whip this up within minutes.

I will always follow a recipe to the T the first time around and subsequently put my own tiny twist on it when I remake it. I’ve adjusted the ingredients a teeny-tiny bit and the recipe I’m publishing is the one I’ve customized, but this recipe belongs to Mrs. Irfana Nasir. I lay no claim to it at all.

Mrs. Irfana Nasir, Murtaza, Khuzaan: Heartfelt thanks for sharing this recipe with me.

Ingredients:

Half kilo mutton (on bone)
10-12 black peppercorns
1-inch cinnamon
2 heaped teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
1 large onion, chopped into big pieces (easier to fish out later)
2 tomatoes, quartered (easier to fish out later)
1 green chili, keep whole, do not chop
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Salt to taste
1 litre water 

Method:

1. Add all the above ingredients in a pressure cooker.
   
   
   
   
   
2. When the pressure builds up and the cooker releases the first whistle, lower the flame. 
3. Continue cooking for 8 more whistles on LOW heat. This low heat cooking will lend robustness to the soup. (Take Mrs. Nasir’s and my word for it) 
4. When done, take the cooker off the stove and allow the pressure to release on its own. 
   
   
   
   
   
5. Once cool, fish out the mutton pieces.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Strain the soup in a colander or a stainless steel sieve if you want a clearer soup. I used a colander as I did not have Gordon Ramsey judging me. 😉
   
   
   
   
   
7. Mash the vegetables to extract all the goodness and discard the mashed veggies.
   
   
   
   
   
8. This yields approximately 1250 mils of broth. Use as desired. (We usually add a squeeze of lime, an extra dash of pepper powder and sip on it. At times, I portion it into 500 ml containers and freeze it for the dishes that require stock) 
   
   
   
   

Chef Notes:

1. You may chop the onions and tomatoes small but fishing out the mutton from the soup gets a tad messy hence I prefer to cut them into large chunks. The first time I recreated this recipe, I cut the veggies small, as mentioned by Mrs. Nasir. At all other times, I’ve cut them into large chunks.
2. Use the mutton for sandwiches. You may also shred the mutton and add it to the strained soup. 
3. Yes, Google has lots of explanations with regard to the terms soup, stock, and broth. Let’s not debate or argue over that. Let’s keep it simple; let’s cook up this deliciousness and enjoy it, yeah?? 😊 
4. Mutton on-bone is what you use for this soup. If you’re opting for boneless mutton, the soup will be yum but, it will lack that beautiful robustness, and that’s what this soup/broth is all about. 
5. The original recipe uses only 1 teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste and no green chili. I like my soup with a bit of zing hence adjusted these ingredients. Feel free to go with whatever suits your palate. 
6. As mentioned at the onset, the original recipe belongs Mrs. Irfana Nasir. The photographs, though, belong to my blog, Kenzy’s Kitchen Korner. You may share the direct blog-link of the recipe/s but do NOT publish my recipes, and/or my photographs, on any blogsite or website without my explicit consent or attempt to pass off my recipe/s as your own. You will be held accountable for plagiarism.
   

Some more photographs: