Roast Chicken

The Abu household is currently keeping carbo-laden rice at bay. This drastic menu change is actually long overdue; we had been talking about eating healthy for a long while, but had never followed through.

The trouble with Malay cooking is that it is incredibly rich, especially because santan (coconut milk) is used extensively. Curries and masak lemak demand santan and santan helped pile on the pounds. Using dairy milk as a substitute somehow didn't cut it for us.

Matters were made worse with my sweet tooth, from my East Coast heritage no doubt, where even curries get a pinch of sugar thrown in. It didn't help that traditional sweetmeats were mostly sugar-laden.

Still, I could never seem to get enough of them, especially the ones originating from Kelantan and Terengganu like akok, cek mek molek, butir nangka, jala mas, nekbat, lompat tikam...

Of course, when you sin you pay and sinners, almost always, pay dearly. In my case, my middle is paying the price. I decided some time back it was time we stopped paying this modern-day ufti to our waistline.

Out goes nasi lemak and fried rice for breakfast (haven't had them for a long while now). In its place is bread and oats and the occasional roti canai. Sometimes I make cucur udang/ikan bilis (prawn/anchovy fritters).

Hot drinks is sans sugar. Condensed milk is a complete no-no; in its place is the creamer. Mamak's teh tarik is like a bad dream; we don't 'do' them anymore. Also consigned to the heap of history is supper, once our favourite pastime.

Yesterday Nawwar, a devotee of Astro's Asian Food Channel, prepared roast chicken for dinner based on an AFC recipe. Here's this no-frills, easy-to-make recipe. Do give it a try; it's simply delicious.

Roast Chicken
Marinate 4 quarter-chicken pieces with light soya sauce, a dash of sesame oil and sunflower oil, garlic and ginger (grated), salt and black pepper (pounded), for three hours. Roast at 400*F for 90 minutes.

Baked Potatoes
Pound one teaspoon of black pepper together with 2 cloves of garlic. Add a knob of butter to the paste. Clean 4 potatoes. Cut each potato into three or four slices and smear them evenly with the pounded paste.

Arrange the potatoes in tinfoil (do not enclose the potatoes completely but keep the tinfoil open at the top) and bake for 90 minutes at 400*F together with the chicken pieces.

Baked Tomatoes
Slice the top off 4 medium-sized tomatoes. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper and bake for 30 minutes. if you want, you can add a dash of oregano or mixed herbs.

Vegetables
Cut baby carrots, cauliflower and french beans accordingly and blanch in hot water. Alternatively, steam them for no more than 15 minutes. You can vary the vegetables with asparagus and broccoli.

This recipe serves four. Happy trying!