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Whole Roasted Chicken with Chestnuts

3 January 2008 24 Comments

I have been a chestnut fan ever since I tasted the roasted ones a few years ago. Every winter, a small stand opens in front of Uwajimaya (a Pacific Northwest Asian grocery store chain) where they sell freshly roasted chestnuts hot from the pan. First time I bought it out of curiosity, and I was hooked with the first bite. After that I started buying the biggest bag, every time we go to the store whenever the stand is open. I have been doing this for many winters! It never occurred to me that it will be lot cheaper to buy a bag of fresh chestnuts and roast them at home, till I came across this post at Mahanandi. It is quite a simple task really! Now I am kicking myself, thinking about all the money I wasted. The roasted ones cost about $10 a pound, whereas the uncooked ones are about $3-$4 per lb. Thanks Indira!

If you have never tasted chestnuts before, it is about time! It has a very rich, nutty sweet taste. If you know the taste of roasted jackfruit seeds, I think chestnuts taste very similar. I know, jackfruit seeds might be more alien than chestnuts to most people, but where I am from, jackfruit is very common, but no chestnuts.

Well, anyway, I bought my first bag of raw chestnuts this holiday season; we had some roasted, and I wanted to use the rest in a recipe. I was already planning a Christmas day dinner with a whole chicken roast, so I searched for a recipe to combine the two, and after looking around quite a bit, came across this recipe. My version is very loosely based on the original, using some techniques from it. But the chicken is prepared the traditional Kerala way, it is my fusion chicken roast. RoastedChickenwithChestnuts

Ingredients

1 medium sized whole chicken (about 2 lb)
1.5 tbsp red chili powder (or substitute with cayenne pepper)
Salt to taste
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
For the stuffing:

20-30 whole peeled chestnuts (see note)
2 cups shallots thinly sliced
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 tsp olive oil
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tbsp thyme
salt to taste

For the gravy:

1/2 cup diced onions
1/2 cup diced tomatoes
1/4 tsp ginger paste
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
1 cup hot water

Method

Clean and dry the chicken, remove as much skin as you can without breaking the chicken. Make a paste of the chili powder, salt and vinegar and apply liberally on the chicken inside and out. Marinate in the refrigerator for about 3 hours or more.

Place a large roasting pan or a large oven-proof pan on the stove, heat 1 tbsp oil, and brown the chicken on all sides. Remove the chicken from the pan and keep aside.

Add more oil to the pan if necessary, and add the whole peeled chestnuts. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the shallots, garlic and bay leaves to the pan and mix well. Add the chili powder and salt and saute for about three minutes. Add the white wine and thyme and cook till the wine is reduced down to a glaze. Remove from the heat.

Stuff the chicken with the chestnut mixture, and tie the legs with a kitchen twine to secure the stuffing.

Pre-heat the oven to 425F.

In the meantime, prepare the gravy. Add a little more oil to the pan, if needed, and add the diced onions and saute till onions are soft. Add the red chili powder and coriander powder and saute till the spices start to brown. Add the ginger paste and saute a bit more. Now add the diced tomatoes, mix well and cook till the tomato pieces are cooked. Add the hot water and salt and boil till the gravy is medium thick.

Place the stuffed chicken back into the pan, and pour some gravy over the chicken with a spoon, if it is too thick, rub some over the chicken with the back of the spoon.

Roast the chicken for 20 minutes breast side down. Keep some hot water ready. Turn the chicken over, baste with the juices from the pan (if the juices have dried out, add some hot water to the pan.) and roast for an additional 40 minutes, basting the chicken every 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let it cool a bit. Untie the chicken and scoop out the chestnut stuffing into a bowl. Cut the chicken into eight pieces and serve with the chestnuts and lemon wedges on the side.

Note: It is really tough to peel the fresh chestnuts, because the inner skin sticks to the nuts when raw. Make a small opening on the skin with a sharp knife, and cook the chestnuts in the microwave on high for 3 minutes. Let it cool a bit, not completely, the skin will come off easily when hot.

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24 Comments »

Nags said:

This looks so yummy. and i am totally in love with the new blog look. i love the way the archives show related pics of chicken. wish i knew how to do that. am also trying to get my own domain soon. maybe wordpress. lets see..

Thanks for noticing the related posts section N .. And, definitely go with wordpress

# 3 January 2008 at 1:04 am

Srivalli said:

Sig..that looks so yummy and evil!..must’ve tasted great right….the pictures look great with the new template!

Thanks Srivalli… Yep, it tasted great, the combo of the spicy chicken and the sweet chestnuts was amazing…

# 3 January 2008 at 1:19 am

Raaga said:

you temptress… you!! and girl… do you go to sleep? Like ever?

I was off for about 12 days before the new year, and got used to sleeping at 2-3 am every morning… I have to get back into the schedule by next Monday

# 3 January 2008 at 2:32 am

Padmaja said:

hey that one amazing roast!! It looks so yummy!!!

Thanks padmaja..

# 3 January 2008 at 3:15 am

sra said:

The chestnuts remind me of prawns. :drool:

I can’t believe I am saying it, but chestnuts taste better than prawns

# 3 January 2008 at 3:17 am

indosungod said:

Sig, Happy New Year!
The roasted chicken with those chestnuts(love them) looks divine.

Thanks Indo, the combination was divine too

# 3 January 2008 at 3:51 am

Rajitha said:

same here sig..i bought a big bag of chestnuts after seeing it in mahanandi….but am yet to do anything about it..it is on the counter making me feel guilty and the butt of soo many jokes by jeeves ( that man!! …i think ur method looks easier..i will do only the chestnut part…but i have my doubts on liking them..as u mentioned they are like jackfruit seeds ..will see tho

Lol, my bag sat around for a few days before getting used too… WHAT? You don’t like jackfruit seeds? Okay, it is not exactly the same taste, give the chestnuts a try, you will love them… Before roasting a bunch of them, just break the shell of one or two, and cook in the m/w for a few minutes, just so that you can get a taste… then you can do the proper roasting if you like the taste (and I am sure you will )

# 3 January 2008 at 6:40 am

Mishmash! said:

your roasting method is more or less similar to my mother’s recipe, she used curried eggs and i have heard some using puttu too for the traditional version….cant imagine this with chestnut…so incase if we happen to meet sometime, make this for me

Shn

Curried eggs stuffed in chicken… I’ve had it long time ago, that is awesome… And trust me, the chestnut combo is great too, a little sweet and spicy dish… But sure, visit me with one of your awesome cakes, I will have a whole chicken ready for you

# 3 January 2008 at 7:09 am

Mishmash! said:

I meant curried eggs for stuffing

# 3 January 2008 at 7:09 am

Asha said:

Perfectly roasted chicken. Chestnuts is so traditionally Christmassy. Looks great. I love Martha Stewart btw, no matter what people say about her, she is great!:D

Oh yeah, chestnuts are sooo festive… And I love Martha Stewart too, I mean most of her recipes… I don’t really love/hate her personally

# 3 January 2008 at 7:11 am

musical said:

Roasted chestnuts are my favorite too! So totally yummy! The recipe looks very innovative, dear! And the new blog look, archives and everything else is looking so fresh and good!

Thanks musy… I am glad you like the new look

# 3 January 2008 at 9:26 am

Jyothsna said:

Love the new look, Sig! And that looks tempting. Just last week I saw chestnuts and was wondering what to do with them!!

Oh you have to buy the chestnuts, and roast them… only when you get tired of the roasted chestnuts that you should venture into cooking with them…

# 3 January 2008 at 11:44 am

shilpa said:

I have never tasted chestnut. Have been reading about them a lot in blogs. Donno where to find them here . Chicken roast look absolutely gorgeous

Check your asian stores Shilpa, and I even found fresh chestnuts at Whole Foods here… You must find some before the season is over, you will love the taste…

# 3 January 2008 at 12:19 pm

Mansi said:

Looks nice Sig! pics like these make me wish I shouold have been born a non-vegetarian the roasted chestnuts would surely add great taste and crunch!:)

Thanks Mansi…

# 3 January 2008 at 1:14 pm

richa said:

love those roasted chestnuts never used it in a recipe though, it is a great idea!

Yeah, my first time cooking them too… The roasted ones taste so great, I never ever thought of cooking with it before, but I am glad I did

# 3 January 2008 at 1:28 pm

Rina said:

Thanks for sharing this Sig.. Love to try it. Bookmarked dear. BTW the chicken looks gr8 :drool:

Thanks Rina, let me know how you like it, if you get around to trying this..

# 3 January 2008 at 2:51 pm

sunita said:

Yummy roast :drool: …am a hardcore chestnut fan

Thanks Sunita… then you would love this dish

# 3 January 2008 at 5:21 pm

Mona said:

Hi Sig ! The new look to your blog looks awesome dear Yes): In a few days i plan to move my blog from wordpress.com to wordpress.org and rt now gathering knowledge about it, its difficult i admit.. Anyways.. the chicken looks tempting. Sure might have been delicious. I never tried roasting a whole chicken as yet. Will try it this year though sometime.. And A Happy New Year Sig to you and yours :party: See ya.

Thanks Mona… And good luck with moving to wordpress, yeah it is a bit of a work initially, but it is totally worth it….

# 3 January 2008 at 5:28 pm

ana said:

Beautiful roast chicken and lovely blog. thanks
-ana

Thanks for dropping by Ana!

# 3 January 2008 at 11:12 pm

Reena said:

Sig, I love this new style of your blog. Very professional. Yes):

And what a :drool: dish!

Thank you Reena darling… I am always soo happy to see a comment from you…

# 4 January 2008 at 12:13 am

Roops said:

All these years and never though f giving chest nuts a try I sure will when I go to the Asian store this weekend.I love jacfruit seeds, so am sure now that i cant go wrong – thanks for that pointer
This recipe seems like it would taste wonderful. I am book marking this and trying it out soon.
Have been looking for a desi style chicken roast and always end up roasting the other ways.
Like the new look – it almost tempts me to go back to my programming days – damn! :nerd: