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:

Kando Papeto

Decades ago, my dad spoke of a time when his mum would cook potatoes in ginger-garlic for him. That is why I whipped up this recipe for him. Little did I know at the time, it would go on to be a family favourite, especially for my dad. He loves all kinds of potato sabzi (vegetable), but this one remains his all-time favourite. A note to the Parsi clan.. This recipe is NOT to be confused with the Parsi Kharo Papeto. The flavour profile of this potato recipe differs from Kharo Papeto. 

The literal and simple translation of ‘Kando Papeto’ means, ‘Onion Potato’. No fancy-schmancy name needed for this beaut! 😉 

The onions, the coarsely ground pepper and the adu-lasan (ginger-garlic) are the main ingredients that lend flavour to this dish. Do not toy with the recipe by adding extra spices, or herbs, coz then, you will not be making Kando Papeto, you will be making something entirely different. Just this once, stick to the recipe. No toying! Pretty please!

This one’s for dad! ❤️

Ingredients:

500 grams potatoes, boiled, peeled, and cut into 1-inch cubes
4 to 5 large onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1½ teaspoon coarsely ground black peppercorns
2 heaped teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
Salt to taste
4 tablespoons oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok. Add cumin seeds and allow to splutter.
   
   
   
   
   
2. Add sliced onions and fry until the edges begin to turn brown. 
   
   
   
   
   
3. Add coarsely ground black peppercorns and sauté for a few seconds. 
   
   
   
   
   
4. Add ginger-garlic paste and salt, turn the flame to MEDIUM-LOW and sauté until the ginger-garlic cooks and releases a lovely aroma. Do NOT allow the ginger-garlic paste to burn. 
   
   
   
   
   
5. Add the cubed potatoes and toss it well, but gently, with the onions. 
   
   
   
   
   
6. Once the potatoes are well tossed with the onions, turn the flame to LOW, cover the kadhai/wok and allow the potatoes to cook for 5 minutes. 
   
   
   
   
   
7. At the 5-minute mark, open the lid, give the potatoes yet another gentle toss.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Check seasoning. Adjust if required. Cover, and cook on LOW flame for two more minutes. Serve! 
   
   
   
   
   

Chef Notes:

1. Please do not cut the potatoes larger than 1-inch pieces as you need them to absorb the flavour of the added pepper and ginger-garlic paste. Feel free to cut them smaller, if you are sure you won’t mash them when you toss them. 
2. To ensure the potatoes don’t turn to mash when you cut them, after peeling, store them in the fridge for an hour or two. I usually boil potatoes a day ahead and store them in the fridge. This ensures I get perfect cubes when I cut them. 
3. The reason I suggest you begin adding the coarsely ground pepper when the edges of the onions begin to turn brown, is because the onions will continue to fry to a deeper colour as you continue sautéing the pepper and ginger-garlic. By the time, the ginger-garlic cooks, the onions will have achieved the correct colour and consistency, half fried brown, and, the other half pinkish/translucent (as seen in the photograph). 
4. Please feel free to increase or decrease the pepper and ginger-garlic paste quotient depending on your tolerance of the spice but as there is no other spice, masala, or flavouring, I would suggest you not reduce them too much unless you are cooking this for your kid/s. 
5. At the end of the cook, if you see oil at the bottom the kadhai, spoon out the potatoes into your serving bowl and use the oil for any other dish. It barely has any spices; hence the oil will work with anything you cook. 
6. I would suggest you not be stingy with the oil, in fact, if you feel the need to add more while frying the onions, do so, and get the extra oil out once the dish is done. The flavours will not come together well if the potato-onion mixture is too dry, hence the suggestion for oil. 
7. Ideally, as always, to ensure you don’t bruise or mash the potatoes, I would advice the use of a spatula to toss these babies. 
8. Please use boiled potatoes for this recipe. Don’t go with raw ones. 
9. Just this once, the onions will work as your garnish. Please do not add any herbs like parsley, or coriander leaves, to this dish. It will overpower and mess up the peppery-ginger-garlic flavour profile. 
10. 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: