­
Sarah Cooks: Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake
Chicken

Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake

1/16/2020 08:03:00 AM

Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake! An incredibly easy, and super-delicious meal. Crispy and juicy spicy chicken pieces and veggies, all cooked in the one tray. It's a lifesaver for a busy weeknight!

Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake
Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake


So, I obviously love cooking, but I find weeknight cooking a big challenge. I'm generally drawn towards weekend cooking and baking - long and involved projects that take lots of thinking and planning. However, when it comes to the all important day-in day-out business of feeding my household, I can find that a bit of a struggle. 

The difficulty isn't primarily in the cooking process itself, or even the shopping, but in the decision making process and the mental load. What's currently in the fridge and pantry that needs using up? What have we been eating lately? Will this meal be healthy enough? How much time and energy will I have to cook tonight? How much will this cost? Will it create too many/not enough leftovers? Will there be lots of dishes to wash? Blah.

Well, I love this dish because not only does it taste great, but it's easily made with all supermarket ingredients, it's reasonably healthy, there's minimal prep, and it's all roasted in the one tray, so there's not a lot of washing up!

I got the idea for this recipe from the roast tikka chicken in Jamie Oliver's excellent book, 5 Ingredients. I really love this book - it's full of tasty and practical recipes, with each recipe only using (duh) 5 Ingredients. They're simple and achievable recipes, with not a lot of equipment required. I like the inventiveness of the recipes and the flavour combinations he uses. I would definitely recommend this book!

Ok, so let's take a look at the recipe! Basically, we're rubbing a couple of chicken marylands in Thai yellow curry paste, and roasting them in a tray with cauliflower florets and chopped potato.

Chicken, Cauliflower, Potatoes, Curry Paste
Ingredients

I mixed the red curry paste with coconut yogurt, because I happened to have some in the fridge that needed using up, and I liked how it mellowed out the sharp and spicy curry paste and enhanced the Thai curry vibe. I wouldn't necessarily suggest buying a tub of coconut yogurt just to use a couple of tablespoons (of course leftover coyo is great for breakfast with fruit and granola), and I think regular dairy Greek yogurt or coconut cream would be suitable too if you already have some on hand.

I also used frozen cauliflower florets because, honestly, I was feeling lazy and you only need a few handfuls. So it seemed pointless to break down a whole cauliflower for only a small amount. And as a bonus, I now have more cauliflower florets in the freezer for future dinners!

Anyway, that's the prep. Shove it all in a tray, and roast for an hour until cooked.

Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake
Ready for the oven

And we're done! The chicken skin goes crispy while the meat stays moist and juicy. The roasty hint on the cauliflower is so compulsive, and potatoes are excellent because, potatoes.

Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake
Cooked!

I like this dish strewn with fresh coriander, but there's also a vocal anti-coriander contingent in my house.

Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake
Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake

It's easy, it's quick, it's tasty, it's healthy, it's spicy, it's easy to scale up or down depending on how many you're feeding. It's everything you want in a weeknight dinner! I hope you enjoy this dish as much as I do!

Thai-Spiced Chicken Traybake
A recipe by Sarah Cooks, inspired by Jamie Oliver

Ingredients
2 cups cauliflower florets
2 potatoes, chopped into 3cm cubes
Olive oil, salt and pepper
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
2 chicken marylands
1 tablespoon Thai yellow curry paste
3 tablespoons coconut yogurt, coconut cream, or Greek yogurt
Fresh coriander, for serving

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the cauliflower florets and potato pieces into a large roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and the red wine vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
Using a sharp knife, score the chicken pieces down to the bone in the thickest parts of the chicken.
Stir together the curry paste and coconut yogurt.
Coat the chicken pieces in the spicy paste (I recommend food gloves), making sure you get it all over the chicken pieces and into the slits.
Place the chicken pieces into the tray with the cauliflower and potatoes.
Bake for 1 hour, or until the chicken skin is crispy, the meat is cooked through, and the vegetables are soft and beginning to brown around the edges.
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves to serve. 
Serves 2

Have you made this recipe? Leave a comment below! Tag me on Instagram @sarahcooksblog and hashtag #sarahcooksblog

You Might Also Like

0 comments

CONTACT ME

My email address is sarahcooks [at] hotmail [dot] com.