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Roast harissa butter chicken with homemade flatbreads

This delecious chicken dinner is a culinary tribute to the vibrant flavors of Middle Eastern cuisine, featuring a medley of tantalizing spices, including the fiery harissa, accompanied by a delightful assortment of warm and pillowy flatbreads

Preparation time
less than 30 mins

Cooking time
1 to 2 hours

Serves
Serves 6

By Georgina Hayden
From Saturday Kitchen

Ingredients

For the chicken

  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
  • 2 tbsp harissa
  • bunch fresh coriander
  • bunch fresh flatleaf parsley
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 2 lemons, zest of 1 lemon and juice of 2 lemons
  • 80g/2¾oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1.6kg/3lb 8oz chicken
  • 1 red onion, finely sliced
  • 1 red chilli, seeds removed, if preferred, and finely sliced
  • sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the flatbreads

  • 250g/9oz self-raising flour
  • 250g/9oz Greek-style yoghurt (or plant-based yoghurt)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying
  • ½ tsp sea salt

To serve

  • 400g/14oz Greek yoghurt

Method

  1. To make the chicken, preheat the oven to 210C/190C Fan/Gas 6½.

  2. In a dry frying pan, toast the cumin and coriander seeds until lightly toasted and fragrant. Place in a food processor along with the paprika, harissa, half of the coriander and parsley (stalks and all), and garlic. Add the lemon zest, season well with salt and pepper and blitz to a paste. Add the butter and oil and pulse until smooth.

  3. Use your hands to gently and carefully prise the chicken skin away from each breast, to create a pocket. Slash the skin on the thighs and rub the harissa butter all over – under the skin mainly and into the thighs. Rub any remaining butter all over the top. Place in a small snug-fitting roasting tin. Pop the chicken in the oven and roast for around 1¼ hours, or until golden and crisp but cooked through. Baste the chicken a couple of times during cooking with all the buttery juices in the tin. The chicken is cooked through when the juices run clear with no trace of pink when the thickest part of the leg, between the drumstick and the thigh, is pierced with a skewer. Leave the chicken to rest for 15 minutes before carving – carve traditionally or shred the meat into the buttery juices to keep the meat insanely moist.

  4. While the meat is resting, place the onion and chilli in a bowl, squeeze over the lemon juice and season with salt. Toss together. Pick the remaining herbs, toss together and stir into the onion pickle.

  5. To make the flatbreads, place the flour in a large bowl and mix in the yoghurt, oil and salt. Stir with a fork until it all comes together, then knead with your hands until it forms a smooth dough. Evenly divide the dough into 4–8 pieces, depending on how large you want the flatbreads to be. Roll into balls and then roll each out into a large circle that is 1cm/½in thick. Place a large lidded frying pan over a medium heat. Drizzle with a little oil and pop in one of the flatbreads. Cover with a lid and cook for 1 minute, then cook for 1 minute without the lid. Flip the flatbread over and cook for a further 2–3 minutes without the lid. Wrap in a tea towel and repeat with the rest of the dough.

  6. To serve, spread the yoghurt over each flatbread, top with the shredded chicken, its juices and the onion pickle. Roll up and tuck in.

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