Sri Lankan chicken masala traybake
Using just one tray for a dinner party makes so much sense; a stress-free way to deliver a crowd pleaser, with minimum washing up. This is another recipe born out of a fridge raid to use up curry leaves and tomatoes on their last legs! Sri Lankan curries use coconut, curry leaves and a special roasted curry powder. Here I use a shortcut, but buy the best medium curry powder you can find. For ultimate perfection, I like to serve this with cardamom and cumin rice, naan, some kachumber and coconut sambal to make this totally restaurant-worthy! This is the perfect make-ahead dinner-party dish. You can marinate and keep the chicken and curry sauce for up to 2 days in the fridge, just bring it back up to room temperature before roasting. The rice, salad and sambal can also be made in advance.
This recipe is an extract from ‘Share’ by Nisha Parmar (Quadrille).
Ingredients
Ingredients
For the masala curry
Method
Step 1
In a food processor, blitz all the ingredients for the masala curry until smooth. Spread over the chicken thighs (in a non-metallic dish) and marinate for at least 2 hours, or ideally overnight, in the fridge.
Step 2
Transfer the chicken and sauce to a baking tray and bring to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
Step 3
Roast for 45–50 minutes until the skin has browned and the sauce has thickened. Remove and set aside to rest for 10 minutes.
Step 4
Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium-hot heat, add the shallots and fry for a couple of minutes until crispy, then add the curry leaves and leave to sizzle for a few seconds. Pour this over the chicken as a final garnish and serve with cumin and cardamom rice, beetroot curry and the coconut sambal, if you like.
