Now that it's winter, the barbeque makes less of an appearance at our place; really, no one wants to be hovering over a grill with an umbrella while the rain is pouring non-stop. So on one of those rare days when the sun peaked out from behind the clouds, we went ahead and started that barbeque without even knowing what to cook. Luckily inspiration came in the form of a craving for Lebanese charcoal chicken. Granted, the chicken recipe is more Morrocan or Tunisian than Lebanese, but I paired it with delicious toum and pickles like at Al Barakeh and said craving was satisfied.
Barbeque Chicken with Toum
Adapted from When I Get Home by Matt Moran
INGREDIENTS
1 1.6kg chicken, cut in half and flattened
1 lemon, quartered
Chermoula Rub
1/2 bunch corriander, chopped
1/2 bunch flat-leafed parsely, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp chopped ginger
3/4 tsp sweet paprika
3/4 tsp roasted ground cumin seeds
3/4 tsp roasted ground coriander seeds
150mL extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 long red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1. Mix together the ingredients for the chermoula rub until combined, then massage the marinade into the chicken and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat the barbeque to its hottest setting (preferably a coal bbq), then cook the chicken skin side down for 15 minutes. Turn the chicken over and cook for a further 10 - 15 minutes, checking with a skewer inserted in the leg - if the skewer comes out hot, chicken is cooked. Remove chicken from the bbq, and serve.
Serve with a cucumber and tomato salad, pickles, lebanese bread and toum. I used the toum recipe from The Food Blog, and highly recommend it - the recipe produced a delicious, fluffy garlic sauce that went perfectly with the chicken.
