Saturday, January 5, 2013

Ethiopian Chicken Legs

Found this great recipe on simply recipes,
(This pic from Elise Bauer's site, so you will recognise the dish when you search her site.)



My Berbere spice mix version uses a mix of wet and dry spices.

In a small jar, mix together:
2 Tablespoons sweet paprika
1 Tablespoon hot paprika ( I like the 'La Chinata' Smoked Paprika-Hot)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground corriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1 teaspoon fenugreek
1/4 teaspoon ground anise,
1/2 to 1 teaspoon tumeric
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried oregano flakes

Use as much or as little of this mix as you want - designed for 6 to 8 servings.

Wet spice for 2 servings, double for 4 or 6
In a Mortar and Pestel ground together:
2 Garlic cloves 
1/2 teaspoon salt flakes
1/2 teaspoon ginger juice. (If no ginger juice add 2 teaspoons ground ginger to the above mix.)


3 chicken drumsticks and one small chicken breast, halved is our serving for 2.

Place chicken pieces in a bowl, pour on just enough oil to coat, add all of the wet spices from above and a good helping of the dry spices, I would use, at least, a scant quarter of the mix, reserving some of the portion to sprinkle on top prior to cooking.  The more mix used the spicer the chicken, and the hotter too!!

Using a spatula, roll the chicken pieces in the spiced oil.

Make a package for the oven by lining a length of alfoil with baking paper and laying chicken pieces on the middle of the package. 
Tuck the chicken breast in the centre of the drumsticks to help keep the breast moist.
Using the spatula, scrape out every skerrick of those lovely spices onto the chicken pieces.
Sprinkle more of the dry spice mix on top of the chicken pieces, that is where you get the lovely blackened finish you see in the top pic.
Fold in the baking paper edges, creating a parcel, and then fold in the foil edges, making sure that the paper parcel remains closed.  Crimp the foil edges together to make a seal and place the parcel in a baking dish. 
 Ethiopian Chicken Legs ready to have the last sprinkling of spice before wrapping.

 Place in a 170 to 180 degree Celsius oven for 90 minutes, open package and cook for another 15 minutes to crisp up the skin and spice mix.

To serve, baste with a little of the sauce that forms at the bottom of the pan.
Squeeze some lemon or lime juice over the chicken right before you serve it.
A green salad to serve is recommended by Elise, however we prefer the Ethiopian Vegetable dish pictured below.


Ethiopian Vegetable dish to serve with Ethiopian Chicken legs.


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