This is my second recipe for that red-dyed chicken in the restaurant. It is
very much closer in appearance to what you get in the restaurant while my first
recipe is tastier and juicier than this one.
Garnish with thin-sliced onion and bell pepper, perhaps on a bed of
thin-shredded cabbage.
Preparation
1. Remove skin from chicken legs. Wash and trim meat. Prick the chicken all
over with fork or thin skewer. Make diagonal slashes all over the meat.
2. Mix the marinade consisting of all of the above ingredients in a large bowl
that you can cover. Plunge the chicken into the bowl and mix around to ensure
that the marinade penetrates the slits and covers the surface of every piece of
chicken. Cover and marinate at least ½ hour and up to one day in the
refrigerator. If you’re going to leave more than a couple of hours,
however, do not use the meat tenderizer.
5. Take the chicken from the refrigerator an hour before cooking to bring it to
room temperature. The chicken is now ready to be either roasted in the oven or
broiled over an electric or charcoal grill.
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Yields
Serves 8.
Ingredients
8 legs |
chicken (including drumsticks and thighs) |
1/3 cup |
lemon juice |
2 ½ tsp |
meat tenderizer, unseasoned (optional) |
1 tbsp |
red food coloring |
2 tbsp |
yellow food coloring |
1 cup |
yogurt plain |
2 cloves |
garlic |
1 tbsp |
ginger root, freshly minced |
1 tsp |
cumin seeds, freshly roasted and ground |
½ tsp |
cardamom, ground |
½ tsp |
red pepper, ground (or cayenne) |
1 tbsp |
ghee or vegetable oil |
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Roasting methods
Oven
Start heating the oven to 500-550° or on broil. Take the chicken legs out
of the marinade. Shake and scrape lightly to rid it of excess marinade. Place
them on a wire rack in a shallow roasting pan. Set the pan in the middle level
of the oven, and roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the meat is cooked through.
(This may take a lot less time than that at such a high temperature, so be
watchful.) There is no need to baste while the chicken pieces are roasting,
because the enclosed environment keeps the chicken from drying excessively.
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Grill
Fire the coals well in advance (about 1½ hours before you are ready to
begin cooking), so that a white ash forms over the surface of the coal. This is
when the coal is at its hottest. Place the grill at least 5 inches away from
the heat, and rub generously with oil. Place the chicken pieces, slashed side
up, over the grill and brush them with ghee or oil. Let chicken cook without
turning for 10 minutes. Turn, baste the other side, and cook for 10 minutes.
Continue to cook, turning and basting the chicken every 10 minutes, until it is
done. The cooking time for grilling will vary widely.
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