Shio-Koji Chicken Roast

4 servings

If your chicken is bone-in, remove the excess fat from it. Remove bones per choice. Thinly slice the garlic clove and cut the lemon into round slices.
Add the Chicken, shio-koji and garlic into a plastic bag and mix them well. Then place the bag into the refrigerator for 1 hour. (If you want to tenderize it further, you can leave it in the fridge for a day or more.)
Chop the potatoes, Japanese sweet potatoes and the kabocha into bite-sized pieces.
Cook the veggies by steaming, boiling, microwaving, but stop before they are well done. Move the cooked veggies into a bowl. Pre-heat an oven to 400 degrees F (Approx 200 C).
Fry the chicken with a bit of oil and mid-high heated pan, until the surface turns brown. It's to avoid having the Umami leaking out of the chicken in Step 6.
Place a baking sheet over an oven tray, then set the chicken on it skin-side up, sprinkling coarse black pepper over the top, and set the lemon slices and rosemary onto the tray.
Just before roasting, dress the veggies with shio-koji, black pepper and olive oil. (*1)
Place it around the chicken on the oven tray.
Put the tray into the oven, roast for 15 ~ 20 minutes. (*2)
After the roasting is complete, place into a plate and serve.

Once the veggies are dressed, begin roasting them quickly. Even under room temperature, the enzymes in the shio-koji will begin breaking down the veggies, especially starchy ones like Potatoes.(*1)
As it will easily burn, once the chicken shows signs of this, cover the tray with foil. (*2)