Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Persian Saffron Chicken (Joojeh)

We had some greek yogurt in the fridge that we had to use up before it started to go bad, so that means one thing for me: Joojeh!  If you know me at all, you know that I love Moby Dick's House of Kebab more than anything pretty much.  Seriously, I could eat there every day.  So I found a recipe online a few years ago that will let me reliably make my own Joojeh (Saffron Chicken Kebab).  Here's what you'll need: (and you might want to make sure your grill is clean, the marinade/basting mixture will fall into the grill and possibly catch fire, so I learned the hard way to clean that out or you're going to have some very well-cooked chicken. . . d'oh!)

Joojeh (Persian Saffron Chicken)

2 lbs Chicken (either chicken leg quarters or boneless chicken breasts cut into roughly 1"-2" pieces)
4-6 Plum tomatoes

Marinade:
1 C Greek-style unflavored Yogurt
1 Large or 2 small White or Yellow Onion Diced
1/4 C Olive Oil
1/4 C Lemon Juice
4 Cloves Garlic, crushed
1 tsp Black pepper (8 to 10 twists of a pepper grinder)
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Saffron threads dissolved in 2 tbsp warm water

Chop the Onion and put into a food processor and pulse until Onion is chopped into a paste.  Pour into non-staining bowl (Metal is a good bet here, Saffron stains pretty much ANYTHING and it doesn't come out, so be careful. . .) and combine the rest of the ingredients and dump in the chicken.  Marinate in the fridge covered for at least 6 hours and as long as 2 days.

Baste:
1/2 C Butter (melted)
1/2 C Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp Saffron threads dissolved in 2 tbsp warm water

Depending on the type of chicken there are two ways to cook this dish.  If you're using chicken quarters, then you'll want to bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes and then switch to the broiler/grill on medium for another 8-10 minutes to crisp up the skin. Put the Tomatoes on a skewer and grill/broil with the chicken when the chicken is done baking.  Baste every few minutes with the Saffron Lemon Butter mixture.

If you've got the boneless chicken breast pieces, you'll want to put them onto metal skewers with a tomato at the end and broil them with the oven rack on the 2nd highest slot below the broiler or grill them on medium heat for 15-18 minutes flipping through the 4 sides every few minutes until the juice is no longer pink. Baste every few minutes with the Saffron Lemon Butter mixture.

If you can find it, shake on some Sumac as well, it really makes the dish.  You might be able to find it at an International Market, but it's tough to find. . . 

Basmati Rice:

Steam rice in a rice cooker before you start cooking the chicken and leave on the warm setting (or on the stovetop with the lid on).  Once you've flipped the chicken for the last time (or taken the chicken out of the oven for baking and started grilling/broiling it) put the rice in a large bowl and set 1/4 of the rice to the side.  Stir in 2-4 tbsp of butter to the remaining 3/4s of the rice.  Prepare some more saffron lemon butter baste and stir into the 1/4 set to the side and then top the 3/4s white rice with the 1/4 saffron lemon butter rice.  Pull the Chicken off the grill and serve with the rice and/or toasted pita/lavash bread.

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