Pear Stuffed Roast Chicken

Prep: 30 minutes

Cook: 1 hour 25 minutes

Method: Moderate

Come Christmas make this roast chicken – your chicken will eat it up in no time

Preheat oven at 200°C. Grease a baking tray with some oil.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan, add 1 tbsp garlic and sauté till golden. Add onion and sauté till translucent. Switch off heat and cool.
Discard stem and bottom of both pears, halve, remove core and cut into small pieces.
Take chicken mince in a bowl. Add pears and mix. Add sautéed garlic-onion mixture and mix well.
Add salt, crushed black peppercorns and ½ tsp dried mixed herbs and mix. Add almonds and mix well.
To prepare marinade, take Worcestershire sauce, salt, crushed black peppercorns, remaining garlic, butter, ½ tbsp oil and lemon juice in another bowl and mix well.
Loosen the skin of whole chicken, put some marinade between the skin and flesh and spread well. Rub remaining marinade over the chicken.
Seal the head of marinated chicken with toothpicks. Stuff the chicken with onion-pear mixture. Push the chicken legs inside and seal the tail with more toothpicks. Place the stuffed chicken on the greased baking tray.
Place potato wedges and carrot pieces on the worktop. Sprinkle salt, remaining mixed dried herbs and crushed peppercorns over them and mix. Put the potato-carrot mixture around stuffed chicken and drizzle some oil on top.
Place the baking tray in preheated oven and roast for 10-15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 150°C and roast for 1 hour, basting some butter after every 15 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven, carve the chicken and place them on a serving platter. Serve hot.

Cherupayar Payasam

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 35 minutes

Method: Easy

A must in the Onam menu, this is a dal payasam which the locals of Kerala love

Prep: 2 hours

Cook: 30 minutes

Method: Easy

A popular Parsi deep-fried chicken drumsticks

Make some incisions on the chicken drumsticks and put them in a bowl. Add 2 tbsps red chilli paste, 1 tbsp browned onion paste, salt, black pepper powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, coriander powder, cumin powder, 1½ tbsp oil and lemon juice and mix till all the drumsticks are well coated. Keep the bowl in the refrigerator to marinate for 2 hours.
Heat remaining oil in a deep non-stick pan, add remaining browned onion paste and remaining red chilli paste and saute till fragrant.
Add the marinated chicken drumsticks and a little water and mix well. Cover and cook till the gravy becomes thick, and the chicken is cooked.
Add some coriander leaves and turn off the gas.
Heat sufficient oil in a kadai.
Take breadcrumbs in a bowl and roll chicken drumsticks in it till they are well coated.
Take eggs in another bowl, add a little salt and whisk well. Dip the chicken drumsticks in whisked egg and deep fry till golden. Drain on absorbent paper.
Serve hot along with the gravy if any left.