Chicken and pumpkin tikka tray-bake

Name: Chicken and pumpkin tikka tray-bake
Ingredients: 200 g natural yoghurt (plus extra for serving); ⅓ cup (100g) tikka/tandoori paste (or whatever Indian curry paste you have in the fridge); ½ tsp salt flakes; 1 kg roughly 6-8 chicken thighs (skin on, bone in); 700 g pumpkin (sliced into thin wedgy chunks); 1 brown onion (finely chopped); 2 tbsp olive oil and 50g butter (or 2 heaped tablespoons of ghee); 3 cloves garlic (finely grated); Thumb’s worth of ginger (approx 2cm piece, finely grated); 1 tbsp cumin seeds; 2 sprigs of curry leaves; 300 g (1½ cups) long grain rice (rinsed and drained); 1 tsp salt flakes; ½ tsp ground turmeric; 625 ml (2½ cups) chicken/veg stock (or water); ¼ bunch coriander (picked into tendrils, stems washed well and finely sliced)

Servings:

I just love the colour-blocked ORANGEness of this dish, which is full of flavour, richness, sweetness and spice. The curry leaves are an optional-but-excellent addition, and can be found at South Asian and East Asian grocers, and many independent grocers – you might even be growing them in your garden. Shred any leftover chicken through the rice for a perfect lunch the next day too.

Instructions

Pop the yoghurt and tandoori paste into a large bowl with the salt and mix to combine. Taste for seasoning and adjust.
Slash two 3 cm incisions across the skin of each chicken thigh into the flesh, then add thighs and pumpkin wedges to the tandoori mixture, coating each piece to help evenly cover and soak up the marinade. Cover and pop into the fridge to marinate for at least an hour or overnight.
Pop the onion, oil and butter (or ghee) into a large 20cm x 30cm deep sided baking dish and stir to combine and spread out over the base. Place the dish into the oven, then crank the temperature to 180°C fan (200°C conventional). Cook for 10 minutes, checking at 5 minutes to ensure it’s not sticking and browning too quickly. Add in the garlic, ginger, cumin seeds, coriander stems, curry leaves and turmeric together and cook for another 10 minutes or until everything is softened and lightly coloured. Remove the baking dish from the oven.
Once the onions are cooked, tip the rice into the baking dish, then pour over the stock. Arrange the marinated chicken skin side up and pumpkin pieces skin side down, over the top. Cover the baking dish with baking paper and then a large piece of foil sealing around the edges. Return the baking dish to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and take off the foil, being careful of the escaping steam. Crank the oven to 200°C fan (220°C conventional) and pop back in the oven for a further 15 minutes uncovered, to allow the chicken and pumpkin to brown.
Transfer the hot baking dish to a cooling rack. The surface rice will have a light crust and be fluffy underneath, and the chicken and pumpkin will be slightly burnished around edges. Leave to stand for 5 minutes before serving.
Serve scattered with fresh coriander tendrils and generous blobs of yoghurt.