The recipe called for 8 chicken thighs but I just went to the butcher and got 4 chicken quarters (thigh and leg) instead. Toss these in a big bowl with some garam masala (new fav spice... I put this on everything now!), tumeric, chili powder and some salt and pepper. Grate fresh ginger and garlic in the bowl and give it a shot of olive oil and the juice of a lemon. I put some gloves on so I could really get in there without my hands being stained highlighter yellow for a day!
Arrange the chicken in a baking dish so it's snug and skin side up. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the chicken pulls away from the bone easily.
Remove the skin from the chicken and place it upside down in a clean baking dish with a handful of cashews, cumin seeds and sesame seeds. Put this back in the oven until the skin is really crispy and the nuts/seeds are toasted.
While that's ticking away in the oven, dice half a seeded cucumber and half a pineapple and add this to the bottom of a pretty serving tray. Finely slice a spring onion (green onion) and scatter this on the platter as well.
Note: For those of you who don't already know...
Picking a good pineapple 101 --> the center leaves should pluck out without much effort at all and if it's heavy that means it's juicy. If it's really yellow on the bottom put it upside down on your counter for a good while. This will redistribute some of the juice that has settled at the bottom. I credit this wisdom to my sister who is awesome at picking pineapples and gave me "picking a good pineapple 101" years ago!
Pull the chicken off the bones making sure to leave them in somewhat chunks instead of shredding the heck out of it. Come to think of it we used the finely shredded left over chicken for an awesome hot chicken sandwich the next day! Put the chicken over the pineapple and cucumber on the platter.
Spoon away any fat from the roasting dish leaving the juice behind. Add the juice of 2 limes, some chopped coriander (what the Brits call cilantro I guess) and some yogurt or sour cream which is what I used. Mix this up nicely and taste to season with salt and pepper if needed. This is some righteous sauce let me tell you!
Pour the sauce over everything on the platter and give it a toss. Sprinkle the crispy skin, toasted nuts and seeds and some more coriander. This recipe called for chopped red chili as well which I omitted because I still have yet to find a red chili at the super market!
This looked like a party on the platter and the flavors explode in your mouth. Matt and I loved this one so much that we managed to eat a little over half of the entire thing between the two of us! Seriously delicious all the way around!!
