Chicken Cafreal – Roasted

Rub the salt and lime juice over the chicken (also inside if whole).

Grind all the other ingredients together and rub over the chicken.

Cover and marinate it overnight in the refrigerator.

Heat oven to 325F. Place the chicken in a roasting tray and cover with foil(this is important - the chicken must be moist when done and the spices must not burn). For a 4 lb chicken, cook for about 2 hrs (adjust the time to the size of bird or if chicken joints are used). Baste several times during cooking. For the last 15 minutes of cooking, remove the foil.

Remove the chicken from the roasting tray and leave to rest.

You now have two options for the `gravy`. a)Either collect the pan juices as is (no don`t skim the fat off) or skim the fat, deglaze and make a gravy as normal. When I had it in India it was served just with the pan juices.

Notes :- If a whole chicken was used, then cut into two halves post cooking, do not carve into slices ;- this is meant to be eaten with your hands.

:- Serve with plenty of bread to dip the juices up. :- Why not roast some root vegetables and garlic in the roasting tray while you are at it.