Lebanese Food: Grilled Chicken

21/04/2013 Rafsan Jani Mazed MARAD1201

Lebanese Food: Grilled Chicken 

Lebanese grilled chicken is a garlicky gourmet dish that tends to be our “Sunday special” at home.  The recipe is quite easy to make and the secret is in the marinade, and is rather simple.

Lebanese Grilled Chicken Ingredients (6 servings)

·       6 pieces of chicken (breast or leg quarters with skin)

·       1/2 cup of lemon juice

·       1 cup of red vinegar (apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar)

·       1 garlic head

·       3/4 cup of olive oil

·       1.5 to 2 teaspoons of salt

·       1 teaspoon of Arabic 7-Spices (or black pepper)

·       1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

Marinade and Preparation Method (20 minutes)

1.      In a bowl, sprinkle then rub ground cinnamon on raw chicken, rub with half a cup of vinegar for a couple of minutes and then rinse well with cold water. This will help rid the chicken of any smell. Make cuts in chicken pieces (for marinade to seep through).

2.      In a blender or food processor, grind/crush for 3-4 minutes the garlic along with the lemon juice, 1/2 cup of red vinegar, salt, and 7-spices. Once done, add the olive oil then run the blender for 1 more minute. Your marinade is now ready.

3.      Place chicken in a bowl, add a few lemon slices (with peel), pour marinade on and let sit in the fridge overnight. The longer you marinate the chicken the more flavor it will have. Once ready for cooking don’t throw away the leftover marinade, you’ll need it later.

Grilling the Chicken (~20 minutes)

Grill the marinated chicken on a BBQ as you would other chicken, on low to medium heat for about 20-25 minutes. In the first 10 minutes of grilling, brush the leftover marinade on the chicken occasionally so they stay moist and absorb more marinade flavour.

This is the picture of a chicken I made for my self following the recipe and method given.

But as I don’t have a charcoal grill I used my conventional oven to make. Where it took me 45minutes in 180 degrees.