East African Roast Chicken has very simple ingredients but the end result was very flavourful and delicious. The original recipe uses a whole chicken but I have used chicken legs which was de-boned but skin was left on.
Recipe from “The African and Middle Eastern Cookbook” by Josephine Bacon and Jenni Fleetwood
Serves 6; Preparation time 10 mins; Cooking time overnite+1½ hours
Ingredients:
- 1.8-2.0 kg chicken
- 30 ml softened butter, plus extra for basting
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander
- 4 tbsp thick coconut milk
- 4 tbsp medium-dry sherry
- 1 tsp tomato puree (paste)
- Salt and chilli powder
Preparation:
- Remove and discard giblets from chicken, if necessary, rinse out cavity and pat skin dry.
- Put butter and all remaining ingredients in a bowl and mix together well to form a thick paste.
- East skin of chicken away from flesh and push in some of the herb and butter mixture.
- Rub more of the mixture over skin, legs and wings of chicken.
- Place chicken in a roasting pan, cover loosely with foil and marinate overnite in fridge.
- Preheat oven to 190C.
- Cover chicken with clean foil and roast for 1 hour.
- Then turn chicken over and baste with pan juices.
- Cover again with foil and roast for a further 30 mins.
- Remove foil and place chicken breast side up.
- Rub with a little extra butter and roast for a further 10-15 mins, till meat juices run clear and skin is golden brown.
- Serve with a rice dish or a salad.
Note:
Rubbing skin on chicken with a spicy herb butter and then marinating it overnite gives it a wonderful flavor. Baste it frequently while it cooks.
Variation: Use ground coriander instead of ground cumin or dried thyme.
My version, which worked really great:
I used 6 chicken legs, de-boned but leaving skin on. Same preparation method except baking under foil for 40 mins, baste with juices and baking without foil for a further 10 mins. Cut chicken into thick slices, put on a warm plate, spoon over with some chicken juice and serve leftover juice separately.

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