Louiz's Rojak Roast Chicken

Hi folks! I just got back this morning. I have a lot to catch up on and I'll slowly make my rounds to visit your blogs. Meanwhile, what is Rojak Roast Chicken? Trust Louiz to come up with something so delicious with a funny name. What she meant by rojak is that her marinade is made up of anything available on her kitchen counter and she tosses any vegetable from her fridge into the roast. Very practical and sensible isn't it?

I got to know Louiz from her funny comments on my cousin's blog Small Kuching (Paparazzi is my cousin). Out of curiosity, I visited Louiz and had a great time reading her very entertaining posts. This girl has loads of humor! 

Before roasting. I put pieces of butter on top of the chicken just like Louiz. It turned out awesome!

This year 2014 is the year I start my Atkins eating plan all over again. In 2011 and 2012, I started Atkins and lost 15lbs. I could fit into my "skinny" pants and could buy regular sized clothes (read L or if I am lucky M). But in 2013, I sort of went haywire and started to binge of junk food. Twisties, Doritos, Mr Potato, Chipster, you name it, I ate it. I also stopped exercising regularly and as expected, nature took its course and I regained the 15lbs and more :( To make matters worse, I suffered a slipped disc in August 2013 and could hardly move for more than 2 months. So now, I focus on proteins and vegetables. Carbohydrates will have to take a back seat for the moment.

After roasting. Love the color and the taste!

Every once in a while, I like to try my blogger friends' recipes, particularly something that they invented themselves. Since these are their own creations with no formal name, I will name these recipes after them. For example Queenie's Sweet and Spicy Roast Chicken. Louiz's is another one I tried and am sharing here.

The marinade for this dish is taken from this post because I did not have lemons, carrots and God forbid, I am not eating potatoes. And as Louiz said, you can't go wrong with roast chicken even if it's seasoned with just salt and pepper. She is right as I this rojak roast chicken is totally delicious! 

I would never have thought of mixing just tomato sauce with oyster sauce as a marinade. It is obviously not something sophisticated but it is perfect for simple everyday home cooking. I love this style of cooking as I have no talent for the artsy fartsy stuff. This roast chicken was made on New Year's day and I had it with just a salad. It would have been great to have rice as the pan juices would have flavored the rice beautifully.

To anybody who says that they can't cook, you go do this and wow yourself. And go ahead and experiment with your marinades and you could have created you own signature rojak roast chicken!

Louiz's Rojak Roast Chicken
Recipe source : Adapted from Breathe a little...Slow down...

Ingredients :
- Half a chicken, chopped into 4 pieces
- 1 big onion, sliced
- 1 green pepper, sliced
- 4 yellow mini peppers, sliced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 4 tablespoons tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon oil
- some butter (optional)

Method :
1. Combine oyster sauce, tomato sauce,garlic and oil.
2. Pour marinade onto chicken pieces and mix to coat evenly. Leave to marinade in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
3. Prepare a lined baking tray.
4. Arrange onions and peppers on the baking  tray.
5. Then put chicken pieces on top of the vegetables.
6. If you like, put a few small pieces of butter on the chicken for added flavor.
7. Roast at 180C for 40-50 minutes or until chicken is browned and cooked through.