Baked Bharatiya Cornish Hen

Cornish Hens are cute and compact and have a nice natural flavor. You should be able to get them in the frozen section of your favorite local grocery store. This recipe is perfect for an Indian Thanksgiving! This recipe is pretty involved during the prep-time but once you start baking the hen, you can sit back and relax!

Baked Cornish Hen (Prep time : 1hr + a couple of hours for marinating the hen)
Ingredients for the marinade
    * 5-6 cloves
    * 2 cinnamon sticks
    * Seeds from10 green cardamoms
    * 1tsp cumin seeds
    * 10 peppercorns
    * 1/2 tsp ginger paste
    * 1/2 tsp garlic paste
    * 2 medium onion
    * 2 medium tomatoes
    * 2 tbsp yogurt
    * A dash of lime juice
    * 3 green chillies,
    * 1.5 heaped tsp salt (it's a lot but it gets diluted through the process)
    * a little bit of oil
    * Optional : A dash of "Shan Tandoori Chicken Masala" to give the final product a nice rich color!

Blend all the marinade ingredients in the mixer, Keep some aside for cooking the veggies in. Marinate the whole hen in the rest for a couple of hours in the fridge. Note : you may/may not want to remove the excess fat from the hen, depending on your cholesterol levels;) Also, poke the hen with a fork so that the marinade gets into the deeper layers.

Cook the veggies
I like to have Cornish hen with julienned carrots, eggplant, green peppers, onions and green peas. Cut the eggplant first into julienned strips and bake at 375F in a baking dish with olive oil. When they're about half-cooked (15 mins), mix them with the other veggies and a bit of the marinade. Bake it for around 5 mins more. Don't cook it too long, the veggies taste good if they're crunchy.

Bake the hen
Take a pan and fill the base with about half an inch of water. Lay the marinated hen in the water. It's important to put water as this prevents the grease from burning and ruining the pan. Don't worry if some of the marinade washes off...it makes a yummy (fatty) gravy in the end! Bake the hen at 400F for about an hour (the time will vary of course, keep poking the hen with a fork to figure out when it's done). Turn the hen over once in the middle so that both sides cook evenly. I'm still trying to figure out whether baking or broiling is more efficient.

The finishing touches and garnish!
Lay the hen on a bed of cooked rice (basmati would be nice!), along with the veggies garnished with cilantro and caramelized onions (love that zing!). Pour some of the gravy on the rice to flavor it.

Dig in!

Baked Cornish Hen on a bed of rice with veggies and caramelized onions!

Note : Even though this dish takes a while to prepare, you can do the chopping etc beforehand and even marinade the hen overnight if needed. I also caramelize onions and do my chopping the day before to save time.