Sabrina Ghayour’s recipes for mango and chilli chicken, sticky spring onions and latke

I use this exact cooking method to make every kind of traybaked chicken, and this one is a blend of store-cupboard staples with the addition of fresh lime to push the flavour. Then, I love hash browns, röstis and latkes – give me crispy fried potatoes of any description, and I’m a happy girl – but I won’t lie and tell you that I love frying, because, if I can avoid it, I do: it’s messy, greasy, smelly and uses a fair bit of oil, which is pretty costly. But how to produce a perfectly crispy latke by baking? Well, I’ve managed to do it, and I’m really happy with the results.

Mango, lime and chilli chicken (pictured top)

If you don’t have mango chutney, use any sweet chutney instead.

Prep 5 min
Cook 45 min
Serves 3-4

600g boneless, skinless chicken thighs

For the marinade
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
3 tbsp sweet mango chutney
2 tbsp Greek-style yoghurt
1 heaped tsp sriracha, or any chilli sauce
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp olive oil
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lime
Flaky sea salt and black pepper

Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7, and line an oven tray with baking paper. Arrange the chicken thighs in a single layer on the lined tray.

Mix all the marinade ingredients in a small bowl, adding a generous amount of salt and pepper, until well combined. Pour this all over the chicken thighs and then, using your hands, toss to coat both sides really well.

Bake the chicken thighs for 40 minutes, until they’re burnished, cooked through and juicy, then serve with the latkeand spring onions below.

Ludicrously good traybaked latke

Sabrina Ghayour’s ludicrously good traybaked latkes.

Prep 10 min
Cook 1 hr 10 min
Serves 3-4

1–1½kg floury potatoes (maris piper or russets), peeled or unpeeled, scrubbed and coarsely grated
1 very large onion, peeled and grated, or blitzed in a small bullet blender or mini food processor
Flaky sea salt and black pepper
1 heaped tsp dried sage
1 heaped tsp dried oregano
1 heaped tsp garlic granules
2 tbsp cornflour
Olive oil spray or olive oil

Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/400F/gas 6, and line a large oven tray with baking paper.

Put the grated potatoes and onion in a large bowl, add a generous amount of salt and, using your hands, mix well. Leave to sit for 10 minutes.

Put the potato mixture in a clean cotton tea towel, gather up the corners and spend a good five minutes squeezing out as much liquid as you can – the drier the mix, the crispier the latke. Transfer the mixture to a dry bowl, season, then add the dried herbs, garlic granules and cornflour, and mix really well until evenly combined.

Spray or brush the baking paper with a generous amount of olive oil and loosely scatter the potato mixture evenly on top – I like to make one big rectangular latke, but you can form it into any shape you like, or even make individual ones. Pat the latke flat without pressing too hard, tidy the edges, if need be, then spray or brush the top generously all over with more olive oil.

Bake for 40–45 minutes until deeply crisp and golden with burnished edges (if making smaller ones, you will need to check them after 35 or so minutes). Remove from the oven, cut into squares and serve.

Sticky-glazed spring onions with sesame

Sabrina Ghayour’s sticky glazed spring onions with sesame.

If the Spaniards can obsess about eating calçots (a cross between a leek and a spring onion), then I can happily allow myself to eat spring onions as a vegetable in their own right. If you know my books, you’ll know I’ve shared a few spring onion recipes before, and here is another one of my favourites. They’re great with grilled meat or fish or in wraps with kebabs.

Prep 5 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 3-4

2 bunches fat spring onions (14–16), thoroughly washed and patted dry
Olive oil spray, or olive oil
1 tbsp sesame seeds (I use a mix of black and white)

For the glaze
2 tbsp apricot jam
Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon, plus the juice of ½ lemon
½ tsp black pepper
1 pinch flaky sea salt

Heat the oven to 240C (220C fan)/475F/ gas 9 and line a large oven tray with baking paper.

Mix the glaze ingredients in a small bowl until evenly combined.

Put the spring onions on the lined tray, spray or drizzle them with olive oil, rubbing in to ensure each one is well coated, then roast for seven minutes.

Remove from the oven and pour the glaze over the spring onions until well coated. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds (do not stir), then roast for another six or so minutes, until the seeds are toasted – check after three minutes to ensure the spring onions are not drying out. Serve immediately.

• These recipes are edited extracts from Persiana One, by Sabrina Ghayour, published by Mitchell Beazley at £28. To order a copy for £25.20, go to guardianbookshop.com