Chicken open potjie naan open breads in the pizza oven
How to cook a whole chicken in a pizza oven
We recently stayed at Ou Skool outside Robertson, a beautifully restored old school building tucked away near the Marloth Nature Reserve and surrounded by mountains.
The accommodation is an absolute paradise if you enjoy cooking. Along with a well-equipped kitchen and indoor braai with traditional meat hooks (have a look at my recipe for Argentinian-style leg of lamb on traditional meat hooks over an open fire) , they have a wood-fired pizza oven.
I obviously had to try it.
Having made pizzas in a pizza oven at 360on62 in Montagu before, I wanted to try something else. I first browned a whole chicken in a potjie pot, then cooked it in the pizza oven, then added it to a Cape Malay curry base and cooked it until tender and I could easily pull the meat off the bone. I served the Cape Malay chicken it on naan breads with fresh coriander and toasted coconut slithers - delicious!
If you want to give it a try, find the full recipe below.
Serves: 6 - 8 people
Preparation time: 35 minutes
Cooking time: approximately 3–3½ hours
Ingredients for chicken
1 whole chicken, about 1.5–2 kg
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2–3 tbsp canola or sunflower oil
Ingredients for the Cape Malay curry base
2 large onions
4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
3-4 tbsp Cape Malay curry powder (my favourite is the Cape Malay curry powder from Aroma Cape Herb & Spices )
Ingredients for the potjie sauce
800 g (2 tins) chopped tomatoes
900 ml (2 tins) coconut milk
1–2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock or water
½ cup dried mango, sliced
½ cup toasted and dried coconut slices
1 tbsp apricot jam or chutney
1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 bunch destalked fresh coriander
1 tsp lemon rind
Cooking equipment needed
Large cast-iron potjie pot with lid
Pizza oven, braai, or fire with steady heat
Oven tray
Tongs
Wooden spoon
How to prepare the dish
Pat the chicken dry. Season it generously all over with salt and freshly groundblack pepper.
Brown the whole chicken in a potjie pot (leave the lid off) or oven tray with some oil inside the pizza oven. If you don’t have a pizza oven, you can also braai the whole chicken until the skin is crispy. You’re are aiming for colour here, the chicken does not get cooked on the inside yet.
Once the chicken skin has browned all over, you can remove the chicken from the fire and set it aside. The browned chicken skin and the oil left will form the flavour base of the curry.
Slice the onions and fry them in the potjie pot, in the same oil that the chicken browned in. Fry until soft and golden.Lower the heat slightly by placing the potjie pot to a cooler part of the pizza oven, or partially out of the hottest zone.
Peel the garlic cloves and crush the garlic. Grate the ginger and stir both into the pot.
Add the curry powder. Fry the spices in the oil for 1–2 minutes until fragrant. Do not rush this step. This is where the Cape Malay flavour develops.
Next, stir in the tomato paste, then add the tinned tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes until the tomatoes start to reduce and darken slightly.
Then add the coconut milk, chicken stock or water, dried mango, dried coconut slices, apricot jam or chutney and lemon juice (or vinegar).
Season lightly with salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir everything together.
Place the browned whole chicken back into the potjie pot, breast-side up or slightly on its side. Spoon some of the sauce over the chicken.
Put the lid on the potjie pot and place the covered potjie pot back into the pizza oven over moderate, steady heat.
Cook slowly for about 1½ to 2½ hours, depending on the size of the chicken and the heat of the oven.
Check occasionally. The curry should bubble gently, not boil aggressively. Add a splash of water or stock if it gets too thick before the chicken is tender.
The chicken is ready when the meat pulls easily from the bone and the sauce is rich, thick, sweet-spiced, and coconut-creamy.
Carefully lift the chicken out of the potjie and place it on a board or tray.
Pull the meat from the bones, discarding the carcass and any small bones. Keep the meat in generous chunks rather than shredding it too finely. Return the pulled chicken to the potjie and stir it gently through the curry.
Simmer uncovered for another 10–15 minutes to let the chicken absorb the sauce
Taste and adjust with salt, freshly ground pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
The final flavour you’re looking for is:
rich from the coconut milk,
sweet and fruity from the dried mango,
warmly spiced from the Cape Malay curry,
and slightly tangy from the tomatoes and lemon.
Serve the Cape Malay chicken in a Cape Malay sauce on some naan and finish with fresh coriander and some toasted coconut slices.
Enjoy! Please tag me on Instagram if you’ve made this recipe - I’d love to see it!
More recipes
Below the newsletter block, you will find some more recipes.
There are a lot of different types of meats you can cook on the braai. How about this Prime Rib Roast with Exotic Mushroom Sauce and Pak Choy? You can also make a Leg of Lamb on the braai or a Lemon & Herb Peri-Peri and Rosemary Deboned Leg of Lamb. I’ve also made Ostrich Fillet Kebabs with Nectarine and Rosemary on the braai.
Other than meat, South Africans also love to put seafood on the braai. This braaied snoek recipe with plum jam is a winner.
If you’re looking for a side on the braai, you can either make this pull bread with pesto, mozzarella and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, or make traditional braai broodjies (keep an eye out for my secret ingredient). If you have leftover gammon, these gammon braai broodjies are also to die for.
About Shawn Godfrey
Photo credit: Niki M Photography
Shawn Godfrey is an entrepreneur based in Cape Town, South Africa. After the Covid-19 lockdown saw his business in financial distress, cooking was the creative outlet that helped to keep him sane. To keep track of his recipes, and encourage friends and families to join him, he starts his instagram account The Roasted Dad.
Fast-forward to late 2021 - on a whim Shawn (encouraged by his wife Lianne) enters MasterChef South Africa. It is a crazy time of life: running a 200 people business and struggling to keep it profitable, two small children with a third on the way, and about to move into a new house. But when Shawn gets selected to be one of the 20 contestants participating in the fourth season of MasterChef South Africa, he decides to go all in. Leaving his 7-month-pregnant wife to look after their then three and one-year-old children, he battles it out and comes back home five weeks later with the trophy and a million rand prize money in his pocket.
It all started with an Instagram account, but The Roasted Dad is so much more now. Shawn has stayed his entrepreneurial self and whilst he hosts Private Dinner Parties and Cook-with-Me Demos, does Restaurant Take-Overs, he still runs the lighting company and several other businesses.
On his blog, Shawn shares Restaurant Reviews and Accommodation Reviews, and gives an insight into the wild and wonderful life he leads together with his wife Lianne, and their three children Aiden (8), Olivia (6) and Harvey (4).
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