coconut and coriander half roast chickens

a triumph of taste but the kitchen looked like a scene from a horror movie. if you're squeamish, make sure your knife is very sharp or get your butcher to do the work for you. 

the idea behind this dish is that you cook the chicken at low temperature so the marinade doesn’t burn. the original recipe, from the british larder (http://www.britishlarder.co.uk) says to cook it for an hour but i found this was nowhere near enough. i’d say an hour and a half but do check that the juices are running clear as well.

the other important point to note is that you need allow time for the marinade to work. we ended up eating at half nine at night because of that and the mistiming in the recipe. so probably better as a weekend dinner though i think you could easily leave it overnight too.

COCONUT AND CORIANDER HALF ROAST CHICKENS WITH CREAMED COCONUT DRIZZLE
for two

1 organic free range chicken, around 1.5kg
20g desiccated coconut
½ tsp tumeric
½ tsp madras curry powder (any will do)
50ml oil
30g fresh coriander (a very big bunch will do for the whole thing), chopped finely
zest and juice of 2 limes (i used some lime leaves instead of one zest as the lime looked a bit manky)
10g honey
1tsp fish sauce
1 clove of garlic, crushed
10g flaked almonds

for the ‘drizzle’
50g coconut cream
150g natural yoghurt
2tbs chopped mint
2tbs chopped coriander
seasoning

mix all the marinade ingredients together.

with a sharp knife, cut the chicken in half through the breastbone. flatten the two halves a little, then make several slashes so that the marinade can penetrate the flesh. rub the mixture in with your hands, then leave for an hour.

in the meantime, preheat the oven to 150C.

make the drizzle by mixing all the ingredients together. taste and season.

roast the chicken for around an hour and a half.