Glazed Chicken Pieces

Ingredients

• 1 chicken (about 1.2 kg cut into 8 pieces)
• Salt
• Pepper (freshly ground)
• ghee (or clarified butter)
• 6 not too large ripe tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 celery stalk
• 1 piece fresh ginger (3 cm)
• 6 tbsp acacia honey
• 0.5 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp ghee
• 1 tsp Panch Phoron (five-spice blend from the Asian store)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• Lemon juice
• 400 g basmati rice

Instructions

1. 1.

   Preheat oven to 180°C. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Rub chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Place chicken on foil, adding one teaspoon of ghee to each piece. Bake in the center of the oven for about 35-40 minutes, turning halfway through. After about 30 minutes, cut a small piece of meat to check doneness.

2. 2.

   While the chicken cooks, wash tomatoes, blanch them briefly, peel, quarter and remove stems. Peel ginger and grate finely on a vegetable grater. Wash celery stalk and slice thinly. Peel onion and finely chop. Combine tomatoes, ginger, onion, and celery in a pot. Add honey and simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes until thickened and tomatoes are soft.

3. 3.

   Add turmeric and plenty of salt, cover and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Heat ghee in a small pan. Add the five-spice blend, sauté briefly over medium heat, then pour over the tomato mixture. Stir well. In another pan without oil, toast fennel and cumin seeds over medium heat while stirring, cool, then crush finely in a mortar. Add this to the glaze and stir well. Mix in lemon juice and let rest for about 15 minutes.

4. 4.

   Turn hot chicken pieces into the glaze, serve with basmati rice cooked according to package instructions in bowls, and optionally garnish with spinach.