Roast Pheasant Masala (Roast Pheasant with Indian Spices)

This Roast Pheasant Masala is a delicious way to enjoy this game bird, with touches of Indian spices.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Roast Pheasant Masala
Roast Pheasant Masala

You’ve heard me say I love autumn about a gazillion times, haven’t you? Because there’s so much fresh game to be had. And today’s recipe, Roast Pheasant Masala is a great example of how to cook game birds with a different flavour than usual.

The roast pheasants are richly flavoured with the beautiful aroma of Indian spices like cumin, coriander and garam masala.

Roast Pheasant Masala Recipe

It’s a pretty straightforward recipe. All we do is:

  1. make up the marinade (spices, aromatics, yoghurt and lemon juice)
  2. marinate the pheasants
  3. chop up some vegetables
  4. roast the pheasants
Roast Pheasant Masala
Roast Pheasant Masala with sides

How to Serve our Roast Pheasant Masala?

Just because we are cooking it with Indian spices, doesn’t mean it has to be part of an Indian meal. However, if that’s the way your boat rocks, of course, you can serve the roast pheasant masala with rice, curries and Indian vegetables.

Being a part English household, roasts are a very big part of our lives! What I love to do though, is liven up our Sunday roasts with differently flavoured meats. Sometimes, it’s the straight old classics with minimal flavours, sometimes it’s Chinese (above), sometimes it’s Indian, sometimes it’s Italian (Arrosto Misto, Italian Mixed Roast) and sometimes it’s Middle Eastern. For a start.

The accompaniments may change along with the flavours, or half the time, we stick with the potatoes, vegetables, Yorkshire pudding and gravy theme, no matter how the meat was seasoned.

Yemeni Chicken Mandi, smoky roast chicken on a bed of rice
Yemeni Chicken Mandi

The Dry Spices for our Roast Pheasant

I’m going to give you 2 choices, whatever you are happier with:

  • Toast your whole spices, then grind them
  • Or use ground spices

Besides the cumin, cardamom, et al, I also add some garam masala, for a little more added warmth. Again, you can use shop bought, or make your own, with the video recipe below. Sometimes, I replace the garam masala with chaat masala, another Indian spice mix.

Homemade Garam Masala

Don’t like Pheasant or Can’t get Pheasant?

This same recipe can be used for any form of poultry, be it chicken, duck and most certainly the festive turkey. Double or triple the ingredients for chicken and duck, depending on the size of the birds.

And for turkeys, you probably have to have 5 times as much of the ingredients here. At least.

Roast Pheasant Masala Recipe in Pictures

More Roasts on LinsFood

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Marmalade Roast Duck with Sichuan Peppercorns
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If you like the recipe and article, don’t forget to leave me a comment and that all important, 5-star rating! Thank you!

And if you make the recipe, share it on any platform and tag me @azlinbloor, and hashtag it #linsfood.

Lin xx

Roast Pheasant Masala

Roast Pheasant Masala (Roast Pheasant with Indian Spices)

Roast Pheasant Masala is a delicious alternative roast brimming with the rich aroma of Indian spices, without any heat. Perfect for festive occasions or no occasion at all!
5 from 27 votes
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Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Anglo-Indian
Keyword: meat, roast
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Calories: 692kcal
Author: Azlin Bloor

Ingredients

  • 2 oven ready pheasants that means all cleaned (about 600g/1.3 lb)
  • 1 large carrot
  • 1 large onion
  • 2 medium tomatoes

Dry Whole Spices

  • 6 cardamom pods or ¼ tsp ground cardamom
  • 1 tsp coriander or ¾ tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds or ¾ tsp ground cumin
  • 1 small stick cinnamon or generous pinch ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp black peppercorns or ¼ tsp freshly milled black pepper

Marinade

  • the whole spices above ground
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 5 cm ginger medium thickness
  • 1 green chilli or more, for heat
  • 1 small handful fresh coriander leaves cilantro
  • 100 g thick yoghurt (one small pot)
  • ½ tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp garam masala
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • ½ tsp salt

Instructions

Prepare the marinade

  • Toast the whole spices in a frying pan on a medium-low heat for a couple of minutes. You will know when they are done, by the lovely, smoky aroma. Don’t let them burn! Leave them to cool while you get on with the other ingredients.

If using ground spices, just move on to the next step.

  • Place the garlic, ginger, green chilli and coriander leaves (cilantro) in a chopper and chop to a fine grind. Or, chop them all finely, by hand if you haven’t got a chopper. Seriously, you don’t?
  • Place the yoghurt in a bowl and tip the chopped garlic, ginger, chilli and leaves in.
  • Follow this by all the other ingredients.
  • When the whole toasted spices have cooled down about 10 minutes, place them in a spice or coffee grinder and blitz to a fine powder and add to the yoghurt.
  • Stir the yoghurt mix thoroughly.

Marinate the pheasants

  • Rub the yoghurt marinade all over the pheasants, getting under the skin and in the cavity. Cover, and leave to marinate for as long as you can, minimum an hour. Overnight would be great, just remember to keep the birds in the fridge and get them out 30 minutes before cooking to allow them to get to room temperature.

Cook the pheasants

  • Turn the oven on to 220˚C (430˚F).
  • Slice the carrots, onions and tomatoes in rings and place them in a roasting tin. You can use any vegetables you like here, like leeks and celery.
  • Place the pheasants on the vegetables, and roast them, uncovered, at the initial high temperature of 220˚C (430˚F) for 15 minutes.
  • Turn the heat down to 180˚ (350˚F) and cook for 45-60 minutes more, until the birds are done, basting at least 3 times during the cooking period. The birds are done when the legs are no longer very pink, and more importantly, the juices run clear when you use a knife to pierce the thigh.
  • Take it out of the oven, cover with a foil, then a tea towel and leave to rest for 15 minutes, before carving and serving as discussed above.

Notes

Total time does not take into account the marinating time.

Nutrition

Calories: 692kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 82g | Fat: 33g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 245mg | Sodium: 492mg | Potassium: 1187mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 3718IU | Vitamin C: 34mg | Calcium: 119mg | Iron: 5mg
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12 thoughts on “Roast Pheasant Masala (Roast Pheasant with Indian Spices)”

  1. HI, Can I make this recipe using pheasant legs and thighs only. How long should I roast in the oven for? Thanks, Hannah.

    1. Hi Hannah, sure you can. I would cook the legs and thighs at 200 Celsius (400F) for 20 – 30 minutes (depending on the size). Just pierce the thickest part of one of the legs and if the juices run clear, they’re done.

  2. Monika Sidhu

    I love this recipe, Azlin. We are very Asian in our Christmas menu, usually doing curries and stuff. But I really fancy the idea of different recipes. So I might give this a try but maybe with chicken. Have you got other Asian Christmas recipes?

  3. Hi I just saw this recipe on Pinterest and I’m curious about something. Does 1 bird serve 2 people? What if it’s small?

    1. I reckon 1 pheasant should always happily serve 2, given that you always have something alongside it, be it rice or Western accompaniments. If you’re worried, always do an extra one or two that can be turned into sandwiches the next day.

    1. Hi Anna, you sure can. I nearly did the recipe with stuffing, then decided to keep it simple.
      I have 3 different stuffing recipes on this site, all based around the traditional British sage and onion. You’ll find 2 of them on the Christmas page:
      https://www.linsfood.com/christmas-recipes/
      The third one is the stuffing I use in the Crown Roast of Lamb:
      https://www.linsfood.com/crown-roast-of-lamb-with-spicy-sausage-and-cranberry-stuffing/
      Good luck. Cooking times can stay the same.

  4. Peter Norman

    Wow, I’m loving this idea. saving the recipe for Christmas eve when it’s just us two. Thanks Azlin.

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