Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Jerk Chicken , the first time I saw or heard of this dish was on the show Chopped on Food Network , where this contestant chef (Ric Orlando) prepared this dish as his entrée course using Quail from the mystery basket. Even the judges on the show were quite amazed that he was able to pull it off with such less time and so many ingredients and to their surprise it tasted great J!

I’m sure you would also be surprised if you saw the ingredient list of this delicious Jamaican / Carribean preparation. But the preparation is so simple!

I was simply excited to prepare this dish , as it uses some new and some familiar ingredients , all used in a combination that I would have never tried by myself otherwise.

I paired this spicy chicken with some Coconut Rice with Peas (as suggested in original recipe) for our special Valentines Dinner and the combo was a match made in heaven. The spicy chicken with the cool , mildly sweet coconut rice is perfect! I will be adding the recipe for the Coconut rice in another post soon.

But let me tell you, this dish can be very spicy for those who do not eat spicy dishes often , but for me and my hus it wasn’t overly spicy ( mayb that’s because there was brown sugar in the marinade J )

Jerk seasoning is easily available at most grocery stores, but I wanted to make the whole thing from scratch. It’s a spicy marinade (Dry or wet) mixture and the main spice quotient comes from the hottest pepper in the world – Habannero. These peppers are the most intensely spiciest peppers!! You can de-seed them if you do not want all that spice.

Its best if you marinate the chicken overnight or atleast for 2-3 hrs in the fridge for the flavors to fully get into the chicken. (I’ve read that you can use this marinade for fish , meat etc preparations too) .

I have followed the exact recipe given my Nigella Lawson on the foodnetwork website , with inclusion of a few ingredients that I saw commonly used in few other sites. And I must say, she knows more to cooking than cookies and cakes, the dish was extremely good and something totally different from what I've eaten so far! (I have copied the recipe almost exactly from foodnetwork site as I followed it exactly and there was no information to change)

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Recipe
Recipe source: FoodNetwork (recipe by Nigella Lawson)

You'll need

Chicken Thighs/Breast/Drumstick/Wings - approx 6-8 pieces
Ground Allspice - 2 teaspoons
Dried thyme - 2 teaspoons dried thyme
Cayenne pepper - 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
Ground ginger- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
Ground nutmeg - 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
Ground cinnamon - 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Garlic -2 cloves (peeled)
Ginger - 2 inch piece (Original recipe: 1 1 3/4 piece gingerroot, peeled and cut into chunks)
Dark brown sugar - 2 tablespoons  (I used regular brown sugar)
Dark rum - 1/4 cup  (I used Red wine) - You can skip this entirely if you'd like
Lime juice - 1/4 cup
Soy sauce - 1/4 cup
Cider vinegar - 1/2 cup  (I used regular vinegar)
Red chiles -2 whole ( I used dry red chillies)
Onion - 1/2 large Cubed (Original recipe: 1 onion, peeled and quartered)

Habbanero Pepper - 1 whole (de-seeded , if you prefer a mild spice)
Spring onions - 2-3 stalks


Directions
1. Slash the chicken thighs/breasts/drunstick ,  each cut about 3/4-inch deep diagonally . Put them a ziploc bag or in a rectangular dish, slashed-side down.
2. Put all the other ingredients in the processor and blitz to a dark, earthy paste and pour and spread over the chicken pieces and leave to marinate  in refrigerator for 2 to 4 hours or in the refrigerator, (covered), overnight. (I placed it overnight in ziploc bags).

 most of the ingredients for the marinade (I forgot the onions here ;-) )

 Just before pureeing

ready to get in the oven!

3. Preheat oven to 400 F. Double-line a shallow roasting pan with aluminium foil. Tip into it the chicken with its marinade, slashed side up and roast for 30 minutes.
4. Take the pan out of the oven, just to pour off excess watery juices. Use a pastry brush and spoon to place any paste back on the chicken and cook for a further 30 minutes, by which time the chicken will be cooked through and tender with a thick fiery crust.
Garnish with Spring Onions!

My pics here don't do much justice to the actual look of this dish, its really a nice and dark brown and it smells awesome, wish I could capture that too on a pic ;-) There was a hint of spice that hits you when you are halfway chewing , but when paired with a nice combination of rice, it simply balances it out!
This a must try dish and something very unique...

-Manju