Roadrunners are a delicacy in many Zimbabwean households, offering a wide variety of nutrients as compared to broiler chickens. When cooking a roadrunner it’s always best to keep the recipe simple because adding a lot of spices tends to overpower the flavour of the roadrunner. Below are a few guidelines on how you can cook a roadrunner at home but, before we can get into the details its best to know that a roadrunner takes a longer period of time to cook through as compared to a broiler chicken.
Contents
Easy recipe for cooking roadrunners
The recipe below is one of the easiest ways of cooking a roadrunner chicken and the recipe serves 3 to 5 people. So if you are cooking for a large number of people you can always double the ingredients that are listed below.
Ingredients that you will need to cook a roadrunner
- 2kg roadrunner
- 1 litre water
- 1 onion
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon of oil
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 teaspoon paprika (optional)
- 2 tablespoons royco usavi mix (optional)
Method
Step 1
Once you have all the ingredients in one place, take the roadrunner and cut it into pieces then place it inside a pot. Add 400ml of water, the salt and oil to the pot. Place it on a stove and bring all the ingredients to a boil for about 40 to 50 minutes or until all the water has evaporated.
Step 2
Once all the water has evaporated and a little bit of oil has remained in the pot, add the garlic gloves and paprika. These ingredients will help to enhance the flavour of the roadrunner but if you do not have paprika it’s still fine. Fry the roadrunner until it is browned. This usually takes about 15 minutes.
Step 3
Once your roadrunner has browned add about 500ml of water to the pot and make sure you cover the pot with a lid. This will help to trap heat inside. Let the chicken simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes on low heat or until all the water is finished.
Step 4
Fry the roadrunner again for about a minute then add the chopped onions and tomatoes all at once. Mix all the ingredients together until you are certain that the tomatoes and onions are thoroughly cooked.
Step 5
The last step is to take the royco usavi mix and place it in a cup, add 100ml of water and stir to form a mixture. Add that mixture to the pot and stir for a few minutes. Cover the pot and let all the ingredients simmer for 10 minutes. If you do not have royco usavi mix you can always add water to the pot and let it simmer for those 10 minutes. After 10 minutes your roadrunner will be ready.
NB: Roadrunners have natural oils so you can always omit the oil in your recipe.
How to cook a roadrunner in peanut butter sauce
If you love peanut butter then you will definitely love this easy recipe of a roadrunner that is dipped in peanut butter sauce. It is very easy to make and it requires only a few ingredients. The recipe below serves 3 to 5 people so if you are cooking for more people you can always double your ingredients.
Ingredients
- 2kg roadrunner
- 1 litre water
- 1 medium sized onion
- 3 tomatoes
- 1 ½ teaspoons of salt
- 2 tablespoons of butter
Method
Step 1
When cooking the roadrunner start by cutting it into chicken portions then place it inside a pot. Add salt and about 400ml of water to the pot. Cover it with a lid and bring all the ingredients to a boil for about 40 to 50 minutes.
Step 2
Once the water has finished fry the chicken until it is has a brown colour. At this stage there is no need for you to add oil. This is because the roadrunner has natural oils so you can simply fry it using those natural oils.
Step 3
When you have fried the chicken, add the remaining water to the chicken. Close the pot and let it simmer for about 60 minutes or until the chicken is nice and tender. You may need to add more water if your chicken is not yet fully cooked.
Step 4
When the chicken is fully cooked, remove it and place it in a bowl. Take the onions and cut them into small pieces. Place them inside the same pot in which you cooked your roadrunner. Fry them for about 2 minutes then add the chopped tomatoes and also fry them for 5 minutes.
Step 5
Once the onions and tomatoes are fully cooked, add the peanut butter to the pot and stir it until it’s incorporated into the onion and tomato mixture. Add water to the pot and mix until you have a soup like consistency which you are satisfied with.
Step 6
Once you have gained the soup consistency that you are comfortable with, add the roadrunner portions back into the pot. Coat them with the peanut butter sauce and let them simmer for 10 minutes while stirring frequently. This will help to ensure that the peanut butter sauce does not stick to the bottom of the pot. After the 10 minute time mark your roadrunner dipped in peanut butter sauce will be ready to eat.
Conclusion
Roadrunners require a lot of time to cook however, they are very nutritious and you can cook them in different ways. The roadrunner is often served with sadza, sadza rezviyo and sadza remhunga. Many people favour the roadrunner chickens as compared to broilers. This is mainly because they are fed organic feed and they are deemed to be tastier and healthier as compared to broiler chickens. It is always good to remember that although, the roadrunner is tastier and healthier, it still needs a lot of time to prepare. Therefore, you need to really create time before cooking a roadrunner in order to avoid any disappointments.