I do have a soft spot for Caribbean dishes mostly because my parents served as missionaries there a long time ago and were influenced by their amazing food. Funny thing is I started becoming curious about cooking when I was 5 thanks to a recipe book my mom owned called "THE REAL TASTE OF JAMAICA" by Enid Donaldson and I still have the book in my room to date! One thing that stands out about Caribbean dishes is how well they know their spices and seasonings. Majority of their food is a good blend of hot flavourful spices so if you like the heat like me this would be close to heaven for you! Jerk chicken is very popular especially among the Jamaicans and every home cook and chef swears that their recipe is the best. Today I present to you my simple and delicious interpretation of the dish made in a short time in my kitchen. I made it mildly hot because my brother cant handle the heat but I will direct you on what to tweak in the recipe to get your tongue burning if you can take it. Let's get started!
PREP TIME : 10 MIN
COOK TIME : 30-40 MIN
TOTAL TIME : 50 MIN
SERVES 2
INGREDIENTS
2 pieces of chicken drumsticks attached to the thigh
1/2 a scotch bonnet pepper
1 tbs. soy sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbs. brown sugar
1 large white onion
4 sprigs of spring onion
5-7 sprigs of fresh chopped thyme
7 garlic cloves
1 large fresh ginger
Hand full of chopped dania
2 tbs. cooking oil
1 tsp. cinnamon powder
1tbs. allspice
salt and black pepper for seasoning
PROCEDURE
Score your chicken with a sharp knife to prepare it for receiving the marinade. Scoring the chicken will help the flavours to absorb deeply into the chicken.
Blend together all your spices, liquids and herbs excluding the salt and pepper. Blend your ingredients well in a food processor until you achieve a smooth marinade as the one shown below.
Season your chicken with salt and black pepper on both sides. Pour over your jerk marinade and massage it deeply into the chicken. Cover the your chicken with clingfilm and marinate overnight in the fridge. Alternatively you can place your marinated chicken in an air tight plastic container or zip-lock bag before placing it in the fridge.
NOTE:
For a hotter chicken you may use a whole scotch bonnet pepper instead of half.
Be careful when handling the marinade as the scotch bonnet pepper can be very hot and irritate your skin. To protect yourself try and massage your marinade with plastic gloves or wash your hands immediately after massaging your marinade over the chicken.
When your bird has been well marinated it's time to grill! Jerk chicken is best grilled over an open charcoal grill to give it a nice smoked flavour. Grill the chicken on both sides starting with the skin side down and rotate between both sides until the juices run clear and the chicken is cooked through. Unfortunately I did not have a charcoal grill on hand so I had to improvise.
The first step I took in my cooking process was that i seared my chicken on a hot pan to crisp and colour the skin on both sides.
To sear your chicken heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a non stick pan and place the chicken on top beginning with the skin side first. Once the skin side is nicely coloured turn and sear the other side of the chicken as well and remove from the pan.
Once your pieces of chicken have been seared, finish the grilling in the oven at 180 degrees celsius until the meat is cooked through. This may take between 25-35 min.
When your chicken is ready remove from the oven and leave to rest on the counter for at least 5 min before serving. I served mine with Jerk rice whose recipe will be out on the blog soon so stay tuned!
NOTE:
The quantities and timings of this recipe are as per the amount of chicken used. If you wish to use more chicken you may double the recipe quantities and increase your cooking time slightly.
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