A Hen of India

Fancy smancy name but easy breezy to execute.

Tandori chicken is one of those popular Indian recipes. Of course everyone knows of Tandori chicken much like Butter Chicken, Aloo Matar, and Chana Masala. To make “authentic Tandori Chicken” one must use a tandori oven, which is essentially a clay oven where the chicken roasts after being marinated in a mixture of spices and yogurt. Well, unfortunately, I don’t have a tandori oven and I don’t intend on purchasing one. Due to being lactose intolerant, I can’t really soak the chicken in yogurt either. What to do? Easy.

Roast the chicken in the oven after soaking it in almond milk. That way you get the rich moist chicken because the almond milk has the fat within it. Soy milk can also be a substitute if you aren’t allergic to soy. I wouldn’t recommend rice milk because it doesn’t carry much fat. The whole point of soaking the chicken in the yogurt is to allow the fat to grant moisture into the bird. So if almond milk isn’t available, soak it in hemp milk, soy, or another heavy cream base.

The gravy is actually with spinach and fenugreek seeds since I didn’t have access to actual fenugreek seeds. In my opinion after thoroughly reading into fenugreek leaves, spinach can easily substitute for the leaves as much as for the dasheen leaves in other recipes; dasheen is taro leaves aka calaloo which we discussed in the Calaloo Stew. Anyway, after the mixture is made, soak the chicken and let it marinade overnight. The next day after coming home from work, drain it, pop it in a preheated oven and you’re ready to go. Serve it with bread, rice or potatoes and a fancy meal was served within an hour.

Oven Roasted Cornish Hen
with tomato fenugreek sauce

1 Cornish hen small enough for one person

Marinade
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Mustard Powder
1 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Ground Ginger
1 tsp Ground Coriander
1 tsp Garam Masala
½ almond milk or other nondairy milk

Sauce
½ cup diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen spinach (omit if fenugreek leaves are available)
½ tbsp fenugreek seeds (methi)
Dash of cayenne pepper
Fresh coriander leaves (optional)
Salt to taste

Combine the spices in a small dish, mixing until thoroughly combined then set aside.

Clean the Cornish hen by skinning it and removing the wings (or leave them but I’m not a wing fan and there really isn’t enough meat on them for me). Make small sliced in the bird with a knife then rub the spices all over the bird, massaging into the crevices until it is thoroughly coated. Transfer to non-porous bowl, container or even a plastic bag and pour in the almond milk. Marinade the bird overnight.

The next day preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Drain the marinade. Set the bird in a small shallow roasting pan and roast the bird for 40 minutes or until the juices run clear.

While the bird is cooking, towards the end of the duration, prepare the sauce. In a small sauce pot, add the tomatoes, fenugreek seeds, and cayenne pepper. Bring to a boil and when the methi vanishes, puree unless a chunky sauce is desired. After pureeing, add the spinach and coriander leaves, cooking for five minutes. If the sauce is done before the bird, cover it and set it aside.

When the bird is done, take it out and let it rest for ten minutes. Cut the bird in half with a cleaver or large knife, place it in the serving bowl, pour the sauce on top, and serve with a bowl of rice or bread.