East-African Roast Chicken, Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Vegetable Biryani

I had to get my exotic spice on. I've been missing it.
There is a lot of spice involved with the chicken but don't let that bother you. It's very flavorful and it is very easy to make. You just throw it all together, marinate it for a day, and roast it. Nothing to it.
Doing this from memory so I might make revisions tomorrow.

East African Roast Chicken
1 whole chicken (mine was about 5 lbs)
4 tbsp thick coconut milk (don't know where you would get this. I considered reducing some regular coconut milk and then just decided to use 1/3 of a can as is)
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 tbsp tomato paste
chili powder
ground cumin
ground turmeric
dried thyme
minced garlic
good bit of chopped cilantro
salt

Remove the innards from the chicken, rinse, and pat dry.
Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl. Ease the skin from around the chicken and stuff some of the mixture under the skin. Cover the rest of the chicken well in the spice/herb mixture. Place in a roasting pan, cover loosely with foil and let marinate in the refigerator overnight.
The next day pull the chicken out of the fridge 1.5 to 2 hours before ready to cook so it can come up to room temp. Truss the chicken with butcher's twine.
Bake in the oven at 375F for ~1 hour. Baste with more butter at about 45 minutes and then flip the chicken over at the 1 hour mark. Baste with pan juices and let cook for another 20 minutes. Flip the chicken again and baste with pan juices. Let it go for another 15-20 minutes for a total of about 1 hour 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove twine if using, and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Ginger mashed sweet potatoes [PC]
These are really good, a little different, and very easy to make. The longest part is baking them in the oven. You can do this while the chicken cooks.
You need:
3-4 sweet potatoes
about a thumb of ginger, minced
120ml heavy cream
butter
s/p
a dash of sugar

Wash and scrub the potatoes. Stab them a few times each with a paring knife or something and place them on a rack in the oven at 425F. Let them cook for about an hour, til soft. Obviously, the cooking temp is different from the chicken. If doing them at the same time, just leave them in for longer.
Once they are done, remove from the oven. Place the other ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Do not scorch the cream.
Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh. Place in a food processor or blender and puree.
Transfer the potato puree to a mixing bowl and pour the other ingredients over them. Stir well to mix. Eat.

Vegetable Biryani [CL]
Ok, this isn't actually a vegetable biryani. This is just some rice dish I came up with from eating a lot of indian food. It is similar, but I've never actually looked at any biryani recipes, so this is my imitation.
You need:
basmati rice (I got that part right)
normally you would use ghee or clarified butter-I just use olive oil, cause I always use olive oil
1 small onion, minced
~1.5 cups frozen mixed vegetables (corn, peas, beans, carrots)
curry powder
garam masala
fennel seeds
golden raisins
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
s/p

Ok, I'm pretty sure in a normal biryani, you cook everything together. I've just never done it that way. There's something about boiled/steamed spices that doesn't do it for me. So I cook the rice separately, then the vegetables with spices, then I add them. Here we go.
For the rice:
fry the onions in oil. Toss in the bay leaf and cloves and let cook for about a minute. Add the rice and stir fry for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Add the water, a pinch or two of salt, cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
When that's getting close you can start your veggies:
Have your veggies already pulled and thawed. I usually run some water over them in a strainer.
Heat the oil/ghee/butter in a pan. Add the fennel seeds and fry for about 30 seconds. Add the garam masala and curry powder and fry for another 30 seconds.
Add the veggies and stir fry til heated and mixed well with the spices.
Add the golden raisins for just a few seconds and cut your heat down to low.
Transfer the rice to the pan and mix well on low heat til the flavors have combined.

To be honest, this is best made the day before because the flavors really develop later on. Still good with the chicken, though. I really considered using some of the pan drippings as my liquid, or even using the rest of the coconut milk and tomato paste in the rice, but I wanted to have something different yet complimentary. I was also saving the coconut milk for a flat bread recipe that I've been wanting to make for a while now. It would have gone quite well with this meal also. I usually make it when I make dhaal or chana masala. Maybe I'll post it for you tomorrow. It's a very simple recipe. The only time consuming part is frying the pieces of bread. good eats. good night.