‘The Whole Chicken’ cookbook: Recipes from bang bang noodles to butter chicken

Carl Clarke has got creative to bring you these delicious poultry-based recipes – fancy spices optional

(Robert Billington)

My friend Romy’s butter chicken recipe

When I was asked to write this book I wanted to include a few recipes from my chef friends, people I respect for their genuine love and passion for our industry and the food they serve in their restaurants and beyond. Romy Gill is a British-Indian chef who was appointed an MBE on the Queen’s 90th birthday and formerly chef/owner of Romy’s Kitchen in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, where her cooking was very unique and natural.

Romy combines spices and flavours that she grew up with in India with ingredients from the UK that she was introduced to when she moved here. The restaurant is now sadly closed, but Romy continues to cook incredible food at various pop-ups and also writes cookbooks, her last one notably being vegan. She is one of the loveliest, sincerest and hardworking people I know in our business. Here is her butter chicken recipe, which is the best I have ever had, and I have eaten a few in my time. It’s rich, comforting and luxurious. For me, it’s the perfect Sunday night dish served with some naan bread or a few chapati on the side.

Serves 4

1kg boneless chicken breast, diced

naan, to serve (optional)

For the marinade  

50g plain Greek yoghurt

2 tsps finely grated fresh ginger root

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp masala seasoning (see below)  

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp red Kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp salt

For the sauce

6 tbsps cashew nuts

6 tsps ghee or butter

2 tsps finely grated fresh ginger root

2 tsps finely grated garlic

6 tsps tomato puree (paste)

3 tsps dried fenugreek leaves

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp masala seasoning

½ tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

2 tsps salt

500ml single

(light) cream

400ml water

For the rice (optional)

200g basmati rice

1 tbsp butter or oil

1 tbsp cumin seeds

300ml hot water

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl until combined. Add the chicken, stir to coat the chicken in the marinade, then cover with cling film and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, or preferably overnight.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 200C or a grill (broiler) to medium-high.

Place the marinated chicken on a baking tray and bake or grill (broil) for 10-12 minutes until the chicken is tender and cooked through (depending on the oven it might take less time to cook).

To make the sauce, grind the cashew nuts in a blender to a fine powder.

Heat the ghee in a large saucepan with a lid over a medium heat. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes until they turn light brown. Add the tomato puree and cook for 3-4 minutes until it turns dry and the oil separates. Add the fenugreek leaves, the remaining spices, salt, cream, ground cashews and water, stir and mix well, then cook for 5 minutes. Add the cooked chicken, mix well and cook over a low heat for 10-20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, cover with a lid and leave to rest for 30 minutes before serving, or use the time to make the rice.

If serving the rice with the chicken, soak the rice in a bowl of water for 30 minutes, then drain and set aside. Heat the butter or oil in a large saucepan with a lid over a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and soaked rice and fry for 2 minutes. Add the hot water, mix well and cover with a lid. After about 5 minutes, when the water has evaporated, remove the pan from the heat, cover with paper towels and put the lid on. Leave for 5 minutes to rest before serving with the butter chicken. And naan, if you like.

For the masala seasoning  

85g madras curry powder

2 tsps fine salt

25g onion powder

25g nigella seeds

25g soft light brown sugar

1 heaped tbsp garam masala

1 heaped tbsp MSG (optional)

1 heaped tbsp chaat masala

1 heaped tsp garlic powder

To make the masala seasoning, blitz all the ingredients together in spice grinder in a spice grinder.

Bang Bang chicken salad with crispy noodles

 Bang Bang chicken is traditionally a dish of cold chicken served with a spicy peanut and sesame sauce sold by street vendors in the Sichuan region of China. The chicken is tenderised and shredded by pounding it with a heavy wooden stick, hence the name, but you will be pleased to know that I have left that part out here! “Strange flavour” sauce is also known as “odd flavour” sauce and is so because it’s the closest English translation to describe it. The sauce is actually not strange or odd at all, but is super delicious as it is creamy from the peanut butter and sesame paste and sweet, spicy and numbing from the Sichuan pepper. I have used it in this recipe to create a beautiful fresh crunchy salad.

The contrast of cold salad, warm crispy chicken thighs and spicy peanut sesame oil is incredible. The nacho chips add a nice twist by adding another layer of crunch. Use any flavour of nachos you like. It is a really great and super-easy salad that can be made up for one or served in a large family-style bowl for everyone to help themselves.

Serves 4

4 boneless chicken thighs, skin on

2 tbsps rapeseed oil

2 baby gem lettuces, leaves separated

4 celery stalks, peeled and thinly sliced diagonally

handful of coriander leaves, torn

2 green (bell) peppers, sliced into thin strips

handful of tortilla chips

chopped shop-bought dry-roasted peanuts, to garnish

For the ‘strange flavour’ sauce

6 tbsps light soy sauce

2 tbsps tahini

2 tbsps good-quality crunchy peanut butter

2 tbsps Chinese black vinegar (Chinkiang) or red wine vinegar

2 tbsps sesame oil

4 tsps caster sugar

½ tsp Maldon sea salt

6 tbsps Chinese chilli oil

2 small spring onions, thinly sliced

2 tbsps finely chopped fresh ginger root

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, crushed to powder

Brine the chicken for 1 hour (optional). Meanwhile, to make the sauce, mix all the ingredients together in a bowl until combined. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a cold pan over the lowest possible heat, add the chicken and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the skin is golden and crispy and the thighs are almost cooked through. Turn and then cook for a further 2 minutes. (You can also grill/broil the chicken under a medium heat, if you prefer.)

To build the salad, slice the chicken, then place in a large bowl along with the lettuce leaves, celery, torn coriander and green peppers. Spoon over the sauce and mix until everything is coated.

Add the whole tortilla chips at the last minute and mix again.

Divide the salad among 4 bowls and sprinkle with the roasted peanuts to garnish.

Ants climbing tree noodles  

 You will be glad to hear that this dish contains no ants whatsoever. It’s a classic Sichuan noodle dish that traditionally uses glass noodles and minced pork, which I have swapped out for minced chicken. The glass noodles are meant to be representative of tree branches, spring onions are the leaves and the minced pork is the ants, if that makes any sense to you at all. I have used some fatty streaky bacon here in addition to the minced chicken, as pork is a little fattier and chicken can dry out quite easily if overcooked. It’s best to caramelise the bacon for depth of flavour when cooking. Another thing to note when cooking this noodle dish is that the glass noodles will soak up the sauce very quickly, so if you like more sauce then just add a little more water or chicken stock (broth). You can make this noodle dish in no time at all once all your ingredients are weighed out and prepped – a great after-work, filling, comforting noodle dish.

Serves 4

400g dried mung bean vermicelli noodles

6 tbsps rapeseed oil

4 tbsps Sichuan chilli bean paste

2 tsps chilli powder

500g minced chicken

100g fatty streaky bacon, finely chopped

4 tsps very finely chopped fresh ginger root

4 tsps Shaoxing rice wine

2 tsps light soy sauce

500ml hot water

4 tsps sugar

1 tsp ground white pepper

2 spring onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, very finely chopped

1 fresh chilli, chopped (optional)

(Robert Billington)

Soak the noodles in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes (or in cold water for 10 minutes) until they are soft and pliable. Rinse under cold running water and drain. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok over a medium-high heat. Add the chilli paste and chilli powder and fry briefly, then stir in the minced chicken, bacon, ginger, rice wine and soy sauce and fry for 8-10 minutes until well combined and the chicken is a nice caramelised dark colour.  

Pour the hot water into the wok, then add the sugar, white pepper and reserved noodles. When most of the water has been absorbed by the noodles, add the spring onions, garlic and fresh chilli (if using). Stir-fry for another 30 seconds, then serve warm.

‘The Whole Chicken’ by Carl Clarke (Hardie Grant, £22) Photography: Robert Billington