Bindi BBQ'd Bird with Summerfied Indian Sides

Curry's a bit of a neglected cuisine when the sun starts playing ball in the UK. Ironically, India's always scorching and they manage it?! So why do the phone lines at Balti Towers remain so stagnant when the summer months hit? Because the beloved BBQ is now front and centre of every gathering, and little can dampen its popularity. 

But even one month into the heat, aren't you getting dried out by burnt burgers and mayo drowned coleslaw? Well alas, I've been testing a bhangra banquet that will boot your burgers back to the frozen aisle and will have your bretherins salival glands on overdrive.

First and foremost, get things kicked off and prepped nice and early, so when it comes to showtime, all you've got to worry about is tending to your bird on the barby, and sipping on cold ones.
In a blender/smoothie maker/hand blender, whatever, just something that's going to pulverise; load in your turmeric, garam massala, cayenne pepper, ginger, garlic and toasted coriander seeds (the final one not essential).

Whizz it up.

Then grab your free range bird and drench her in your marinade.

Really rub the marinade into each and every crevice, it really will pay off when it lands at the table.

Sling her in a shopping bag, then another, then probably another (Sainsbury's shopping bags really have diminished in quality these past few years). Spin, and set aside to marinade. If you're eating that day, it's fine to leave out in a cool dry place. If overnight, fridge it, then pull it out the morning of the day your entertaining.

Meanwhile, load into a blender/liquidizer about 3 good handfuls of mint leaves, half a pot of natural or greek yoghurt, 3 crushed cloves of garlic and a quarter of a peeled cucumber. This is genuinely the first time I've managed to get mint yoghurt actually tasting like the raita's you get in curry houses, and blending has been at the forefront of that success.

To finish, coarsely grate over another quarter of a cucumber and mix in.

Now, at this point I have to divert your attention quickly to the best, and notably cheap new kitchen gadget I've invested in - a mandolin. And no it's not one of those weird violin-guitar cross breeds. In simple terms, it will slice things very thinly for you with minimal skill input. They also have a comb-like blade that I've started using for slaws like this one. Mine was £20 from amazon - look.

So for the slaw:

• Mandolise, or finely slice half a red cabbage and 5 or 6 carrots and add to a mixing bowl.
• Finely slice a handful of coriander sprigs, stalks and all.
• Throw in a couple of handfuls of pumpkin seeds or similar. 
• To dress, squeeze a whole lemon, 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper and a spoon of sesame oil.

Mix well...

...pile high and present.

Now for the potato salad (saag aloo remix). Par-boil a load of halved new potatoes for about 15 minutes. Then cool right down in a sieve under cold water and chuck in a bowl. Fry off half a jar of curry paste and mix in with the potatoes and the rest of your pot of natural/greek yoghurt.

Wilt a bag of spinach on a low heat in the same frying pan and add to your potato mix. Done.

Make a cool tomato salad by mixing some thinly sliced red onion, halved cherry tomatoes, coriander & a clove of crushed garlic. Add a tablespoon of vinegar and a squeeze of lemon and give it all a good scrunch with your hands so all the juices run through all the veg. Cover and place in the fridge.

About 2 hours before you want to eat, turn your oven to 150 degs, unbag your chicken and place in an oven dish with some foil or greaseproof paper over the top. This helps to try and keep the marinade and moisture in by steaming it as you roast.
Slide in to the oven for about an hour.

Once the hour's up, pull out of the oven, get a decent sized knife and slice right down the middle of the back of the chicken (the non-breast side) from the big hole, to the closed end. It'll be tough towards the bottom so really force your way through.

Flatten the bird right out and sling on a white emberred BBQ.

Turn every 5 minutes or so and if you have a thermometer, cook until 70 degs at the thickest part of the breast. Otherwise cook for about 25 minutes.

Once your bird is ready, serve up on a good sized tray or oven dish and in the meantime, fry off the naan breads for a couple of minutes on each side on the BBQ before serving.

Slice up your bird and try and give people a mix of breast, thigh etc.

The winning way to send this all down is via a well piled naan tear. Enjoy.

Ingredients (feeds 6) ::

1 x Free range Chicken

4 Naans

Marinade*

1tbsp Garam Massala

1tbsp Cayenne Pepper

1tbsp Turmeric

1tbcp Coriander Seeds (dry toasted on a medium heated frying pan)

3 crushed Garlic cloves

1 x thumb sized piece of Ginger

Slaw**

1 x Red Cabbage

5 or 6 Carrots

2 handfuls of Pumpkin seeds (or sesame seeds)

1 Lemon

1tbsp Sesame Oil

4tbsp Olive or Rapeseed Oil

Raita

1/2 of a 450g tub of natural/Greek Yoghurt

1 x packet of fresh mint or 3 handfuls

1 crushed Garlic clove

1 x Cucumber

Potato Salad (Saag Aloo remix)

15 or so New Potatoes

1/4 of a 450g tub of natural/Greek Yoghurt

1 x bag of Spinach

1/2 jar of Pataks Curry Paste (your choice, I chose Balti)

Tomato Salad

1 x punnet of Cherry Tomatoes (or 15 or so)

1/2 a Red Onion - ideally pickled for 20 minutes in lemon juice and salt

1 x handful of Coriander

1 crushed Garlic clove

* If you don't have a blender in any form, it's really not essential. For the marinade, just make sure the Garlic & Ginger are crushed, and the spices all well mixed together. Perhaps try lobbing it all in a jar and giving it a good shake. 
**For the slaw, just thinly slice or even grate the lot if you don't have a blender or mandolin.

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