Kurdish Fried Chicken in Broth
Yield: 2 servings, easily increased
prep time: minimum 1 hour for marinating chicken and 1 hour to cook.
Recipe from Naomi Duguid’s Taste Of Persia
1-2 large, fresh lemons to yield 1/4 cup juice, plus optional additional lemon for serving
1 pound bone-in chicken breasts, thighs, or legs
2 teaspoons sea salt, for marinade, plus additional to taste
a generous cup sunflower or olive oil, for frying; amount depends on your pan
1 large or 2 medium onions
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup minced cilantro, scallions, or a mixture of the two
Instructions
Set a small strainer over a measuring cup and squeeze out 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice. I save the spent lemons to help sterilize the cutting board and sink after cleaving chickens, next.
Using a cleaver or large, heavy knife, chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces (see photograph for size) and place them in the bowl. Now wash your cleaver and cutting board with hot soapy water. Run your spent lemons over the board and your sink.
Pour the lemon juice over the chicken. Add the salt, rubbing it into the chicken pieces with your hands. Cover the bowl and refrigerate at for at least an hour.
While the chicken marinates, grate the onion. See discussion in blog, above, or in notes, below, regarding grating manually or by machine. Grind cumin if necessary. Mince cilantro and/or slice scallions. Prepare rice, if you plan to serve it (highly advised). Prepare herb plate, if serving.
To cook the chicken:
Place a 12-14 inch heavy sauté or frying pan on the stove. Add about 1/4 inch of oil; set the burner on medium high heat. Carefully add the chicken pieces to pan, allowing the marinade to drip back into the bowl (do not discard marinade). Do not crowd pan; cook chicken in batches if necessary or, if you are dextrous, use two pans, adding oil if necessary.
Fry chicken until lightly touched with gold, turning occasionally, for about 15 minutes. You aren’t looking to cook chicken through, just to get a nice color on it. If oil is spattering terribly or chicken is burning, turn heat down a bit.
Transfer chicken pieces to a 4 or 5 quart pot. Add the marinade, onions, turmeric, cumin, and enough water to cover–about a cup or so, depending on your pot.
Bring the liquid to a boil, then turn the heat down to simmer. Cook the chicken for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender and cooked through.
Taste for salt–it may need quite a bit. I also find the finished dish benefits from an additional squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Sprinkle cilantro and/or scallions over and serve.
Kurdish Fried Chicken in Broth keeps well, covered, up to three days, refrigerated.
Notes: Duguid’s recipe calls for 2 1/2-3 pounds of chicken. Although I used less poultry, I did not alter any other amounts.
I used chicken thighs. The original recipe calls for bone-in breasts or legs.
Grating the onions by hand gives a finer result, allowing them to dissolve completely in the cooking broth. Grating with a food processor leaves rice-sized bits in the final dish. If you opt to go the processor route, you can either live with this, strain the cooked broth, or serve the dish with a slotted spoon.
I deal with used cooking oil by allowing it to cool, then pouring it off into a canning jar, which I keep in the refrigerator until full. Then I toss it. If anyone has a better idea, I’d love to hear it.