There’s a story behind this family favourite. Until we had our own restaurant, my mum worked as a cook for the British during the colonial period in Malaysia. She learnt to cook many things, including trifle, bread-and-butter pudding, cakes and this not-so-English roast chicken,” says Tony Tan. “I don’t know when she added soy sauce to this dish, but I think it gives it a distinctive Chinese flair. In fact, there’s a whole genre of this style of cooking. If you’re ever in Kuala Lumpur, Hainanese cooks still offer cross-cultural dishes at the Coliseum Café. In Hong Kong, it’s called see yauh sai chan, meaning ‘soy sauce Western’. I guess the process of cooks experimenting with flavours just never stops. Please try it. I know very well how delicious and comforting it is.
Ingredients
Serves 4
1 x 2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) chicken
3 garlic cloves, crushed, plus 1 whole garlic clove
2 onions, chopped
2–3 potatoes (Dutch cream or Desiree), peeled and cut into small chunks
¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
1 large knob of butter
½ cup (125 ml) chicken stock, plus extra for deglazing
Sharp green salad, to serve
Mustard glaze:
1 tablespoon English mustard
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Pinch of sugar
Method
-
Remove the chicken from the fridge 2 hours before cooking to come to room temperature.
-
Heat oven to 220°C (425°F).
-
For the mustard glaze, place the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
-
Place the chicken in a flameproof roasting pan and rub it all over with the crushed garlic.
-
Slip the garlic clove into the cavity.
-
Brush the chicken all over, including the cavity, with the mustard glaze.
-
Scatter the onion and potato around the chicken, drizzle the vegetables with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
-
Pour the chicken stock into the roasting pan and smear the butter over the chicken.
-
Roast on the centre rack of the oven for 20–25 minutes, basting with the juices halfway, then reduce oven temperature to 180°C (350°F), baste once more, and roast for another 35–40 minutes or until the juices run clear when a thigh is pierced with a skewer (or the internal temperature reaches 82°C/180°F).
-
Transfer chicken and vegetables to a plate and rest in a warm place for 10 minutes.
-
Meanwhile, add a splash of stock or water to the roasting pan and bring to a simmer over high heat, scraping the base of the pan.
-
To serve, put the bird on a chopping board and cut off the legs.
-
Cut the legs in half between the drumsticks and thighs, remove the wings, then remove the breasts.
-
Cut the breasts into large slices, then arrange the chicken and the vegetables on a platter.
-
Pour the roasting juices over the top and serve immediately with a zippy salad of cucumber and greens.
