This is an ancient Ghana recipe.
I have found that individuals have variations of making it. From my experience, I came up with the simplest and tasty way. It tastes good I hope you enjoy it
If a recipe could be extinct, then this was on the endangered list until now. It is remarkably different from the usual roast chicken. It was first prepared by a Ghanaian cook for his Colonia master. I prepared my version in MKR UK aired in Channel 4 with a special spinach sauce and it was a hit.
In today’s version I am using whole chicken (not deboned) as this is easier for the average home cook. There is another recipe where I used chicken breast for single portions -look out for it
Author—Rebecca From AfricanPot
Difficulty – Medium
Cuisine: African
Serves – 6
Ingredients
- Whole medium sized (2.6KG) fresh chicken – preferably deboned
- Roasting bag
FOR STUFFING
- Medium sized sweet potato- peeled and chopped thinly.
- 500gms of African yam – peeled and chopped thinly (potato can be used)
See Picture of good quality yam
- 2 tablespoon of butter
- 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped mint
- 2 tablespoon of fresh coriander chopped
- 4 twigs of fresh thyme
- 1 teaspoon chopped scotch bonnet
- 15 GM Chicken stock (1 chicken stock cube)
- 1 Medium size Fresh onion peeled and sliced thinly
FOR MARINATE
- 1 medium onion thinly sliced.
- 2 tablespoon of butter
- 2 teaspoon of Italian mixed herbs
- 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped mint
- 2 tablespoon of fresh coriander chopped
- 3 twigs of fresh thyme
- 3 clove of fresh Garlic minced
- 2 teaspoon of fresh crushed Ginger
- 2 teaspoons chopped scotch bonnet {adjust to taste)
- 1 melted Chicken stock cube
- 2 teaspoons Sea salt
Method
PREPARING STUFFING
Peel Yam and sweet potato. Wash and slice thinly.
- Add water to pot and put on fire
- Add the peeled yam and sweet potato and bring to boil and cook until soft – about 8 minutes
- Drain and set aside in a bowl
- Add all other stuffing ingredients and mash together but not too fine and set aside
- Add crumble chicken stock – mix together and set aside
PREPARING MARINATE
- In a bowl add the sliced onions, Italian herbs, the chopped coriander leafs , the mint and the thyme. Add the sea salt, butter, stock cube
- Mix well and set aside
MARINATING AND STUFFING THE CHICKEN
PREHEAT OVEN TO 200 CELSIUS OR GAS MARK 6
- On a large chopping board, clean the chicken –
- Make slits on various area of the chicken- front and back
- Use the marinate to fill and rub into the slits and into the cavity of the chicken
- Then use the filling mixture to fill the cavity and the slits
- Place chicken into a roasting bag ( this helps to self baste) and tie the bag- but giving room for expansion
- Place the bag with the chicken on a rack in a roasting tray
- And roast in the center of the oven for 1 and half hours or until cooked- Check
- About 15 minutes to end of cooking time, slit the top of bag to allow for browning
- Take out of the oven and let stand for 15 minutes
- Drain the juice into a bowl
To Make serving sauce. (optional)
Take part of the juice from the roasted chicken
Add 3-4 tablespoons of left over stuffing, add salt and pepper to taste Mix together and serve with chicken, Jollof Rice and salad or side of choice
I prepared my version at the first ever My Kitchen Rules UK (MKR-UK) competition aired on BBC Channel 4 along with special spinach sauce and Jollof rice and it made us the top of the leader board in Scotland
Please try this recipe , share your comments and share with friends