Jamaican Recipes: Jerk chicken
Jerk Chicken
Jerk is a style of cooking only native to Jamaica in where meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a very hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice. Jerk seasoning is traditionally applied to pork and chicken but modern recipes also add the jerk spice mix to fish, shrimp, shellfish, beef, sausages, lamb, and even tofu. Jerk seasoning relies mainly on two ingredients: allspice ( pimento in Jamaica) and Scottish bonnet peppers.
The word Jerk seems to have come from the Spanish word Charqui which means to dry meat.
Like most Caribbean islands, Jamaican foods are derivative of many different settlement cultures, including British, Dutch, French, Spanish, East Indian, West African, Portugese, and Chinese.
The origins of jerk pork can be traced back to the pre-slavery days of the Cormantee hunters of West Africa through the Maroons, who were Jamaican slaves that escaped from the British during the invasion of 1655.
Often this dish is eaten with a side dish of roasted vegitables or rice and peas for which i will also give you a step by step guidline at the bottom of the recipe.
Serves: 6 people
Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- 12 chicken thighs
- 1 bunch of spring onions chopped fine
- 1 piece thumb sized ginger chopped fine
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 onion
- 3 Scotsh bonnet chillies ( deseed if preffered less spice)
- 1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
- 1 lemon juiced
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of vegitable oil
- 3 tablespoons of brown sugar
- 1 table spoon of ground allspice
Step 1:
To make the jerk marinade you mix all the ingredients in a food processor along with 1 tsp salt, and blend to a purée. If you're having trouble getting it to blend, just keep turning off the blender, stirring the mixture, blend again.
Eventually it will start to blend up (don't add water, you want a thick paste).
Step 2:
Taste the jerk mixture for seasoning ,it should taste pretty salty, but not unpleasantly. You can now throw in more chillies if it's not spicy enough for you. If it tastes too salty and sour, try adding in a bit more brown sugar until the mixture tastes more balanced to your taste.
Step 3:
Cover and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.
Step 4:
If you want to barbecue your chicken, get the coals burning 1 hr or so before you start to cook. Authentic jerked meats are not exactly grilled as we think of grilling, but more a sortof smoke-grilled. To get a more authentic Jamaican jerk Cooking experience, add some wood chips to your barbecue, and cook your chicken over slow, indirect heat for 30 mins.
If you would like to cook in the oven, heat to 180C or gasmark 4. Put the chicken pieces in a roasting tin with some lime halves and cook for 45 mins until tender and cooked through.
If you want to add Traditional Rice and peas go as followed:
Ingredients:
- 200 grams of Basmati Rice
- 400 gram tin of Coconut milk
- 1 bunch of spring onions chopped fine
- 2 large thyme sprigs
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tablespoon of ground allspice
- 2 tins of Kidney beans, drained
Step 5:
While the chicken is cooking, prepare the rice & peas.
Rinse the rice in plenty of cold water, then tip it into a large saucepan with all the remaining ingredients except the kidney beans. Season with salt, add 300ml cold water and set over a high heat. Once the rice begins to boil, turn it down to a medium heat, cover and cook for 10 mins.
Step 6:
Add the beans to the rice, then cover with a lid. Leave off the heat for 5 mins until all the liquid is absorbed.
Squeeze the roasted lime over the chicken and serve with the rice & peas, and some hot sauce if you like it really spicy.
Now in Jamaica they would say " Enjoy your meal ".
Where can we find Jamaica in the world?
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