Roast Chicken 'Charga'
Moist, tender and spicy, this very simple yet incredibly delicious chicken recipe is the ideal one for those who love roast chicken but find the whole oven-roasting/baking process too daunting. Also, it is an added bonus that you can use a skin-less chicken yet not compromise on the succulent juicy meat that is normally so hard to achieve when roasting a whole skinless chicken.I have served my chicken on a bed of Peas Pilau, but it can be had with fries/roast potatoes/side veggies/naan etc etc.The options are limitless!
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken skin removed (I used a 1.2 kg chicken)
- 1½ tsp. red chilli powder
- 1 tsp. garam masala all-spice
- 1 tsp. black pepper powder
- 1 tsp. tandoori masala
- ¼ tsp. turmeric powder
- ¼ tsp. orange food colouring
- 1½ tsp. salt
- ½ cup thick yoghurt
- ½ tbsp. garlic paste
- ½ tbsp. ginger paste
- 2 tbsp. oil + 2 tbsp. melted butter
- juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Wash and dry your chicken, then make a couple of slits on the thickest parts of the chicken (breast, leg, thigh). Don’t make too many slits as you don’t want your chicken falling apart as it cooks. Mix all the above ingredients except for the melted butter (which will be used later) in a bowl then slather this marinade onto your chicken, making sure to rub it in the slits and all the nooks and folds. Refrigerate the chicken with its marinade for 12-48 hours. The lengthy marination helps tenderise the meat and also develops the flavours properly for a tastier chicken.
- Remove the chicken from the fridge at least 30minutes to an hour before you want to begin cooking, to help get it to room temperature. Put the chicken with all the marinade in a pot, breast-side down. Do not add any water. Turn the heat on high, and just as the liquid around the chicken begins to simmer, lower the heat to very low, cover the pot with a tight lid and let it simmer gently for 15 minutes without uncovering. The chicken will release it’s own water, this plus the marinade will be sufficient for cooking the chicken. Once the 15 minutes are up, uncover the pot and gently turn the chicken over. Use two flat spoons to help turn it, be careful not to break the chicken. Again cover the pot tightly and simmer on low heat for another 10-15 minutes.
- Check and see if the chicken is tender. If not, you can turn it over once more and give it another 5 minutes, covered and on low heat. If you feel the chicken needs a bit more water to cook or you prefer extra gravy, you can add a quarter cup of warm water. When the chicken is done, remove it into a bowl and keep it covered. You can thicken the gravy left in the pot by increasing the heat and boiling it until it is of a thicker consistency.
- Just before serving, brush the chicken with 1-2 tbsp of melted butter on all sides, then pop it under the oven grill (around 200 C) for about 5-7 minutes per side to achieve a lovely colour. You can alternatively put the melted butter or some oil in a wok and lightly fry the chicken on both sides until nicely coloured. Then brush the thickened gravy on the chicken to keep it moist and serve immediately. Serve with fries, rice, salad, veggies…anything you like. Enjoy!
Notes
1. I prefer not to use chat masala as we are not big fans of it at my place, but if you want you can add 1 tsp. chat masala to the ingredients. 2. To get the maximum moistness and succulence in your chicken and to infuse flavour into the meat, take a container big enough to hold the chicken. Add 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, half cup white vinegar, juice of 1 lemon, throw in some roughly chopped fresh herbs like coriander or parsley. Then add COLD water and swirl/mix everything together. Now add in your cleaned chicken, it should be completely immersed in the water. Cover the container and refrigerate it for 1-4 hours. Then drain out the liquid, rinse out the chicken properly to get rid of any excess salt and proceed with the marination.
It looks yummy inshaAllah am going to try dis lovely dish
Am a fresher cook,could u pls tell me how to remove the skin of an uncooked hen?
Either ask the butcher to skin the chicken for you or just simply cut and peel it off the chicken.
Hi Fauzia, can I roast the chicken directly in the oven without using the stove?
I haven’t tried that myself but I guess you can yes, although I do have a couple of oven roast chicken recipes in the Chicken folder.
Ive now made this a couple of times and I LOVE it!!!
I made the chicken in the oven, and then grilled it on my grill pan. I used the remaining cooked sauce as a gravy by adding some cream and extra spice, complimented the dish very well.
Thanks for the recipe, I love your stuff:)
Salam! can.v Marinate in ol spices n.freeze it??? my guests aren’t coming n v r a family if 3 hence ds is too much for
us lemme me know if v can.freeze it pls.Jazakallah in.advance.
W/Salaam, yes you can freeze it.
assalam-0-allaikum…can i use the chicken with skin?
W/Salaam, sure you can but it tastes great without the skin too.
Thanks Dear…i ll try without skin first…i tried ur Chicken pakora and samosay…was superb…thanks a lot 🙂
Salamz can we use tip2 wiv chicken pieces wen makin your saucy baked chicken? Thanx x
W/Salaam, you can use tip 2 for any chicken recipe.
Asak ,
So I.md ds chicken n.its outta ds world Jazakallah wish I cud kiss ua hand May Allah bless u wd jannah Ameen !!
Alhamdullilahi may Allah reward you with jannatul firdaus have found something to make my family happy
How do you make garam masala? ……. and tandoori masala? do you have to buy them from an Indian shop?
I normally buy both.
salam,
can i cook the chicken in straight in the oven without cooking in pot?
W/Salaam. For this recipe follow it exactly to achieve best results.
salam fauzia .. if oven grill
salam fauzia .. if oven grill is not av ,so in alternate can we use fry pan for little frying for gettign nice clour ???.
W/Salaam, as mentioned in the
W/Salaam, as mentioned in the recipe, yes you can.
kinly clear also that u have
kinly clear also that u have mentioned that remove the skin .what this means .. how we can remove it .. kindly clear .
Chicken comes with a skin,
Chicken comes with a skin, you just need to peel it off. If your chicken has already been skinned then proceed with the recipe.
Absolutely winner, everybody
Absolutely winner, everybody loved it .thanks
assalam o alaikum fauzia. can
assalam o alaikum fauzia. can we use chicken pieces rather than a whole chicken?
W/Salaam, yes that is ok.
W/Salaam, yes that is ok.
Assalam normally am not at
Assalam normally am not at ease with using a whole chicken . Plz advise whether this can be done with chicken cut into pieces. If yes will the same method apply.
THKS
W/Salaam, yes that is fine.
W/Salaam, yes that is fine. And yes same method.
Great taste, recipe was easy
Great taste, recipe was easy to follow. A question about the gravy: mine was very watery and also had lots of oil (I barely put any oil to begin with). How do I make the gravy thick? Add cornfluor? But you don’t mention in the instructions….I did cook the gravy for long but how long do I cook till it thickens?
Thanks. Sometimes the chicken
Thanks. Sometimes the chicken itself is oily, did you remove the skin of the chicken? Did you trim off any excess fat? As for the gravy, you can add cornflour if you want it to thicken quickly. 🙂
Assalaamualaikum Fauzia, I
Assalaamualaikum Fauzia, I have made this before and it had turned out perfect but can I grill the chicken in a rotesserie. My concern is will it not dry out compared to oven grill.
W/Salaam, sorry but I’ve
W/Salaam, sorry but I’ve never tried doing this on a rotisserie, you could give it a try if you like. 🙂
Dear fauzia, I tried chargha.
Dear fauzia, I tried chargha.
Recipe was easy to follow and the marination.
Chicken came out very tender undoubtedly. Although, i applied cuts on breast, thighs and legs and fill marinate inside but when we were eating I felt spice didn’t go well inside. Result was spicy from outside and flavourless from inside.
My marination time was approx 15 hours.
Hi, maybe the slits you made
Hi, maybe the slits you made were not deep enough? Surely that amount of time is sufficient to infuse flavour into the chicken. 🙂 You could try checking your measurements as well, if all the ingredients were measured accurately.
Yes, may be the slits were
Yes, may be the slits were not as deep as your chicken. I also felt after taking out my freeze chicken from freezer it release lot of water may be due to the ice layer on top which made chicken less spicy?
You mean you marinated and
You mean you marinated and then froze the chicken? I would not have recommended freezing with this chicken.
Assalaamualaikum fauzia! I
Assalaamualaikum fauzia! I really like be in this group pls i will like to know more about peanut butter checkin.
W/Salaam, thank you. Here is
W/Salaam, thank you. Here is my peanut butter chicken recipe:
http://www.fauziaskitchenfun.com/recipes/chicken/peanut-butter-chicken
السلام عليكم Ùˆ رØمةالله
السلام عليكم Ùˆ رØمةالله وبركاته
Your sites the best I must say
Can I use frozen whole chicken without thawing it first for the brine ?
W/Salaam, chicken has to
W/Salaam, chicken has to always be thawed first before brining or marinating.
Salam. Is it absolutely
Salam. Is it absolutely necessary to marinate it for hours before cooking? Cant i straight away cook it? As i dont have much time
You can cook it right away, but marinating it for some time helps infuse flavour all the way into the chicken meat.
Salam. I was wondering at which point we can freeze our charga recipe then defrost again and do the remaining steps. Thanks a lot.
Salam. I was wondering at which point we can freeze our charga recipe then defrost again and do the remaining steps. Thanks a lot and JAZAKALLAH.
W/Salaam, it is best to marinate when you are sure you will be cooking it within a day or two.