Thirty-garlic cloves chicken with roti jalla
Seriously, you have to trust me when I say whole garlic cooked gently in a rich sauce is a thing of utter beauty. This chicken is smoky, rich and gently garlicky, and is served with netted pancakes (aka roti jalla) that are fun to make.
For this recipe you will need a food processor or blender.
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 30 garlic cloves (approx. 3 bulbs), unpeeled
- 2 brown onions, peeled and quartered (about 210g/7¼oz)
- 1½ tsp salt
- 3 tsp smoked paprika
- 3 tsp garam masala
- 1½ tsp tomato purée
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lemon, halved
- 1.2kg/2lb 10oz whole chicken, quartered on the bone, skin removed and flesh scored
- 50g/1¾oz black olives, thinly sliced
For the roti jalla
Method
Start by putting the garlic in a small saucepan with 500ml/18fl oz water. Pop onto a high heat and as soon as the water comes to a boil, lower the heat to medium and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, add the onion quarters, salt, paprika, garam masala and tomato purée to a food processor or blender.
Drain the garlic cloves into a colander, reserving the liquid in a bowl. Save the garlic cloves for later. Add the cooking water to the processor with the onion mixture and whizz to a smooth paste.
Add the oil to a large, flat casserole that has a lid. Add the two lemon halves to the pan and whack the heat up to high. This will gently release flavour into the oil.
Remove the lemon halves. Pour the onion mixture in, squeeze all the juice out of the lemon halves and discard the flesh.
Take the garlic cloves and remove any bits of skin that haven't already fallen off. Add the garlic into the pan and cook the mixture over a medium heat with the lid off for 7 minutes, or until the mixture is dry and there are no watery bits left in the pan.
Add the chicken, stir through the mixture, cover and leave on a medium heat for 25 minutes. Be sure to give the whole thing a mix and turn the chicken onto the other side about halfway through cooking. If the sauce starts to catch, stir in a little water.
Meanwhile, make the roti batter. Add the sifted chickpea flour, salt and onion seeds to a bowl and whisk to combine. Add the eggs, milk and oil and whisk until you have a smooth batter.
Place a 24cm/9½in pancake pan or large frying pan over a high heat. Brush lightly with oil, then take tablespoons of the pancake mixture and drizzle all over the pan to make a lacy pancake. You will get larger clumps and smaller threads, which will mean all sorts of textures and shapes. You will need about 3–4 tablespoons of the mixture for each pancake. As soon as they hit the pan, they take about 30–45 seconds to cook. They are ready to flip over when the top has formed bubbles and they look dry on the surface. Turn out onto a plate and keep going until you have used up all the batter.
Once the chicken is cooked, take off the heat, add the sliced olives and stir through. Move the chicken pieces around to create gaps in which to place the roti jalla. Bundle the pancakes up and pop them into the gaps.
Serve in the centre of the table and dish up.