- 2½5kg whole chicken
- 1½ garlic bulb
- A thumb of ginger
- 2¼ tsp fennel seeds
- 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste
- 600ml coconut milk
- Sea salt
- 1.
Heat your oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Unwrap the chicken and remove the giblets. Save them for making homemade stock (see our tip below).
- 2.
Put the chicken in a roasting tin. Halve the garlic bulb and insert it into the cavity of the chicken. Peel and finely grate the ginger. Mix it with 1 tbsp Thai red curry paste and 1½ tsp fennel seeds. Rub this fragrant mix all over the chicken and tuck a bit of curry paste underneath the skin of the breasts if you can. Leave to get to room temperature.
- 3.
Once the chicken is at room temperature, cover the whole dish tightly with foil. Pop in the oven. Roast for 1 hr.
- 4.
Remove the chicken from the oven. Crank the temperature up to 220°C/Fan 200°C/Gas 7. Remove the foil. Baste the chicken with the pan juices. Dust the top with sea salt.
- 5.
Place the chicken back in the oven and roast for another 30 mins, or till golden and the juices on the fattest part of the leg run clear when pierced with a knife. Cook a little longer if the juices aren’t clear.
- 6.
Let the chicken rest a good 30 mins before carving. Wile the chicken rests, remove the garlic from the chicken. Squeeze a few cloves from the bulb and mash with the back of a knife.
- 7.
Before serving, pour the pan juices from the chicken into a pan and add the remaining curry paste, a few of the mashed garlic cloves and the coconut milk. Simmer till warmed through.
- 8.
Carve the chicken and ladle the coconut broth over it as you serve.
- Tip
Take stock
A giblet stock is easy to make - just pop the giblets in a large pan with a sliced onion, chopped carrot, celery, a bay leaf and a few sprigs of thyme and parsley. Add 2 ltrs water. Cover, bring to the boil, then simmer for 2 hrs. Strain into a tub and store in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. Perfect for soups, risottos and gravies.
