Halal Chicken and Rice or Street Meat
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Ingredients
For the chicken:
  • Juice of 2 small lemons
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • ½ cup plus 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
For the rice:
  • 2 tablespoons salted butter
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1½ cups jasmine or Basmati rice
  • 2½ cups chicken broth
For the sauce:
  • ½ cup mayonnaise
  • ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar or to taste
  • 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar or to taste
  • Squeeze lemon juice
  • ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
  • Salt and pepper
To serve:
  • Shredded romaine lettuce
  • Roughly chopped tomato
  • Sriracha or sambal oelek hot sauce
Instructions
Starting the chicken:
  1. Combine the lemon juice, oregano, coriander, garlic, and ½ cup olive oil in a small food processor and blend until chopped and combined (no need for total smoothness).
  2. Set aside half the mixture and Marinate the chicken thighs in the remaining half for at least an hour but up to a day.
  3. Heat the remaining oil in a heavy skillet (I use cast iron. ). Remove the chicken from the marinade, salt and pepper it, and sauté in the oil until brown (no need for the thighs to cook through).
  4. Remove the thighs from the pan, roughly chop into bite sized pieces, and put chicken pieces and any juices into the reserved marinade and refrigerate. Don't wash your pan.
Meanwhile, make the rice:
  1. In a 2 quart pot, melt the butter over medium high heat, and add the spices and cook for about 30 seconds to a minute. (Smell that? That's one of the good New York smells. Now you can get it without the tinge of diesel fumes and garbage!).
  2. Add the rice and stir until the rice is coated in the butter and lightly toasted, a couple of minutes.
  3. Add the chicken broth, stir, cover, reduce heat and cook over low heat for 15 minutes, or until rice is tender.
  4. Make the sauce:
  5. Combine all the ingredients for the sauce, and adjust according to taste. (The Nuni loves tasting and saying, "I think just a little more lemon juice. Don't you, mom?")
Finishing the Chicken:
  1. Finally, reheat your skillet over medium heat, dump all of the contents of your chicken bowl ( chicken, marinade, juices) into the skillet and sauté until the chicken pieces are cooked through and crisp around the edges.
  2. Serve the chicken over rice with lettuce and tomatoes and pass the white sauce and hot sauce.
Notes
Slightly adapted from Serious Eats
Recipe by The Domestic Front at http://www.thedomesticfront.com/summer-vacation-i-new-york-and-halal-chicken-and-rice/