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
- Finely chop the shallots and mix with the ginger, garlic, ras el hanout and turmeric in a large flattish ovenproof earthenware dish.
- Grind over a generous amount of pepper.
- Add the yoghurt, and the lemon juice and zest.
- Add the chicken and coat all the joints thoroughly.
- 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.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and take the chicken out of the fridge.
- Stir the chicken around again, and put in the oven for about forty minutes.
- Make sure the chicken is cooked through, then take out, and scatter over the flaked almonds and the coriander leaves.
