Recipes, Chicken Recipes

Jaffna roast chicken

Deeply aromatic with a spice mix that includes fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and fenugreek, this whole roast chicken recipe is one of the most delicious and well-known recipes in Sri Lanka. It’s best served with flatbreads, rice, dahl, or a zingy salad.

Jaffna-Roast-Chicken

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Spice mix

Remaining ingredients

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
  2. Toast all the spices for the spice mix in a dry pan. Once it smells aromatic, remove from the heat and grind to a powder.
  3. Mix the spice mix powder with the rest of the ingredients, except the chicken.
  4. Smother the chicken in the mixture and then place breast side down in a baking tray that is relatively snug. Pour over all the mix.
  5. Roast for 45 minutes. At this point, flip the chicken over. If the liquid level is running low, then top this up with a little extra water.
  6. Roast for a further 45 minutes. Turn the heat up to 180°C and roast for a final 10 minutes.

Shop the ingredients