This is a recipe in which you wrap the chicken in a blanket of billowy yoghurt, turned lemony-yellow by turmeric. The turmeric and coriander gives it a slightly Indian feeling so this goes well with palak potatoes (Indian potatoes with spinach); or spring greens and pinenuts which have been stir fried in a nut oil; or as the reader commenting below says, chopped celeriac and chestnuts.

This heats up quite well, but don’t put it in a too hot oven or the yoghurt will separate. Don’t panic if it does separate – it still tastes excellent.

NB: allow time to marinate. But, as the reader submitting the comment below says, it’s not the end of the world if you can’t do this.

Recipe for chicken folded in a soft, yellow blanket

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 8 skinless chicken joints (thighs)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 banana shallots
• 2 cm/1” piece of ginger, grated
• 3 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed with one tsp smoked salt
• 1 tbsp ras el hanout (a north african spice mix, very popular in Morocco)
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 300g/1¼ cups thick Greek yoghurt
• juice and zest of a lemon
• lots of grinds of Indonesian long pepper
• 100g/3 oz toasted flaked almonds (if you’ve bought non-toasted scatter them over the chicken just five minutes before it’s due to come out).
• a few leaves of fresh coriander to garnish

Method

1. Finely chop the shallots and mix with the ginger, garlic, ras el hanout and turmeric in a large flattish ovenproof earthenware dish.
2. Grind over a generous amount of pepper.
3. Add the yoghurt, and the lemon juice and zest.
4. Add the chicken and coat all the joints thoroughly.
5. Cover and put in the fridge for several hours, ideally overnight. NB – see comment below – it’s not the end of the world if you can’t do this.
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C and take the chicken out of the fridge.
7. Stir the chicken around again, and put in the oven for about forty minutes.
8. Make sure the chicken is cooked through, then take out, and scatter over the flaked almonds and the coriander leaves.