Roast Lime Chicken : AFF Thailand

This roast chicken comes from the book The Ultimate Thai and Asian Cookbook which I believe will come in very handy for the Asian Food Fest event. The cookbook contains recipes from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Vietnam and Philippines. 

I have tried this roast chicken before, it must be 3 or 4 years ago when I prepared one of my family Chinese New Year lunch. I can't remember the response towards this dish as there were other dishes prepared and we were all very distracted hah! hah! The marinade is made up of simple ingredients namely garlic, salt, turmeric, coriander and lime juice.

All these (except the lime) are pounded into a paste. Just smear the chicken all over with the paste and then squeeze lime juice over the chicken. What I did was mix the lime juice together with the paste and I added 2 tablespoons of oil. That's just me not capable of following cookbook instructions :)

It's quite therapeutic rubbing the paste all over the chicken. I pretended that I was giving the chicken one of those Balinese massages. I really need a vacation hah! hah!

A very relaxed and well rested chicken.

The original title of this recipe is Roast Lime Chicken with Sweet Potatoes. The caption below the heading said "In Thailand this chicken would be spit-roasted, as ovens are seldom used. However, it works very well as a conventional roast. The sweet potatoes are an inspired addition". Ah....so I can use something else other than sweet potatoes and I chose pumpkins.

The roasted pumpkins were yums!!

The overall preparation is simple. I used fresh turmeric from my garden, digging them up from the ground and being careful not to confuse them with what the cat left behind. I placed the pumpkins on the baking tray and put the chicken on top and roasted the whole lot at 180C covered for 1 hour and 20 minutes. For the last 20 minutes, I removed the foil. The result, a delicious and aromatic chicken, tender and juicy and well complimented by the soft and creamy pumpkins.

I did not follow the recipe exactly as I did not prepare any gravy from the roasting juices. I felt that it was not necessary and the chicken was already good as it was. As I had some sambal belacan in the fridge and extra limes, I prepared a simple kerabu to accompany my meal.

Needless to say, I had a very satisfying lunch and dinner. Oh, I did not taste much of the lime in the chicken, perhaps my lime was too small? I did see some big organic limes at Aeon but they were going at RM9.99 for 4 limes. Nope, I wasn't going to spend RM10 for 4 limes. In my future roast, I'll probably use 2 limes and see if there is any difference to the taste.

So, if you are planning on roasting chicken and want to taste something different, try this Thai roasted chicken. You might just find yourself another keeper recipe.

Roast Lime Chicken

Recipe source : Adapted from The Ultimate Thai and Asian Cookbook (page 228)

Ingredients :

- 1 whole chicken

- 6 garlic cloves (3 to be pounded and 3 bruised and left whole)
- 1 small bunch of coriander with roots, coarsely chopped
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 2 inch piece fresh turmeric
- 1 lime cut in half, squeeze to extract juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 500g pumpkin, cut into cubes (optional)

Method :
1. Pound garlic, coriander, turmeric and salt into a paste.
2. Add lime juice and vegetable oil into the paste.
3. Smear the paste all over the chicken.
4. Place the squeezed lime and remaining garlic into the cavity.
5. Place pumpkins (if using) in baking tray and put chicken, breast side up on the pumpkins.
6. Cover the roasting pan with foil.
7. Roast the chicken in a preheated oven at 180C for 1 hour 20 minutes or until cooked. 20 minutes before time, remove the foil and baste chicken with pan juices. Continue to roast until chicken in cooked.

I am submitting this post to Asian Food Fest Thailand November 2013 hosted by Lena of Frozen Wings.

This post is also linked to Cook-Your-Books #6 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.