Suspending meat over a charcoal fire has long been a favourite method of cooking in Turkey. The meat doesn´t touch any grill or tray but is cooked on skewers in the hot air above the hot charcoals, this means that the meat cooks more evenly and doesn´t burn where it lays on a try or grill.
Cooking over charcoal also gives the meat a delicious flavour that can´t be reproduced in any other way. This cinnamon chicken is best cooked in the way, but can also be done on a traditional barbecue. It´s best to keep the heat quite low or raise the grilling tray further away than you´d normally have it.
Cinnamon Grilled Chicken with Broad Bean and Leek Pilaf
Serves 4
Ingredients for the chicken
- 1 large chicken, cut into eight joints
- 2 tsps Aleppo pepper, cayenne maybe substituted but only use 1tsp.
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- cinnamon stick, 10cm
- 100g natural youghurt
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- salt and black pepper, freshly ground
Ingredients for the pilaf
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 leek, medium sized and sliced thinly
- 100g broad beans
- 225g basmati rice
- 400ml chicken stock
- 3 tbsp dill, chopped
Method
- In a shallow dish mix the lemon juice, salt and Aleppo pepper together then add the chicken pieces and mix them well. Leave to marinate for at least 20 minutes.
- While the chicken is marinading grind the cumin seeds and the cinnamon stick together to make a fine powder, mix in the yoghurt and crushed garlic in and add this mixture to the chicken marinade mixing all together well. Leave for another 20 minutes.
- This stage can be reached and left ready for cooking for hours, even the day before as long as it is kept in a fridge.
- To make the pilaf heat the olive oil in a pan and add the garlic, leek and broad beans frying for four minutes then adding the rice and frying for a further two minutes until the rice begins to crackle. Add the stock to the rice and some salt and bring it to the boil then turn down and simmer for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and leave it unstirred for five minutes.
- While the rice is cooking put the chicken onto skewers, use two pwer piece of meat to make it easier to turn them over and prevent them turning round on just one skewer.
- When the chicken is cooked, fluff up the rice with a fork and serve hot.
Serving tip
Good with fresh crusty bread a tomato and onion salad a cacik made from youghurt cucumber and a crushed garlic clove.
This recipe comes from Rick Stein´s wonderful cookbook Mediterranean Escapes. Read my review of it here.
Rachel L. Webb - Rachel L Webb lives in and writes mainly about Andalucia. She enjoys exploring the region and shares her explorations through her website ...
