ASHANTI CHICKEN FOR THE AVERAGE HOME COOK

ASHANTI CHICKEN

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.

MY VERSION AT MY KITCHEN RULES UK

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)

SWEET POTATO AND YAM

See Picture of good quality yam

AFRICAN 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.

SLICED YAM AND SWEET POTATO

  • 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

COOKED YAM AND SWEET POTATO WITH ADDED INGREDIENTS

  • Add crumble chicken stock – mix together and set aside

 

STUFFING MIX

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

MARINATE MIX

 

MARINATING AND STUFFING THE CHICKEN

PREHEAT OVEN TO 200 CELSIUS OR GAS MARK 6

  • On a large chopping board, clean the chicken –

FRESH 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

MARINATING CHICKEN

STUFFING CHICKEN

  • Place chicken into a roasting bag (  this helps to self baste) and tie the bag- but giving room for expansion

Marinated chicken in bag

  • 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

CHICKEN IN OVEN

  • Take out of the oven and let stand for 15 minutes
  • Drain the juice into a bowl

 

To Make serving sauce. (optional)

SERVING SAUCE

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

ASHANTI CHICKEN FOR THE AVERAGE HOME COOK

JOLLOF RICE AND SALAD

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