Peruvian Chicken
- 1 head Garlic, Skin/paper Removed
- 1/2 cups Fresh Mint Leaves, Loosely Packed
- 1 bunch Fresh Cilantro
- 2 whole Limes, Juiced And Zested
- 1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin
- 1 Tablespoon Mexican Oregano
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 1/2 Tablespoons Paprika
- 2 Tablespoons Salt
- 1 Tablespoon Cracked Black Pepper
- 2 whole Habanero Chiles, Seeds Removed (optional)
- 6 whole Large Chicken Breasts, Skin On, Bone In
- 13 cups Olive Oil
- Take everything but the chicken and add into a large food processor.
- Put the lid on and process until you have a nice, smooth consistency.
- Take a chicken breast, and use your fingers to gently separate the skin from the breast.
- Take a bit of the mixture and massage it all over the chicken breast, making sure you get under the skin.
- Put the chicken into a large resealable bag.
- Repeat with the remaining chicken breasts, and when done, pour any remaining marinade into the bag.
- Seal the bag, give a little massage from the outside, then place in the refrigerator overnight, or up to two days.
- When you are ready to cook the chicken, remove it from the refrigerator, and set it on the counter to let the chicken come close to room temperature.
- Im not a big fan of taking cold meat out of the refrigerator and right onto a hot cooking surface.
- Now you have a couple of options here.
- You can roast the chicken, or cook it on the grill.
- For me?
- Well, I go on a hot, charcoal grill to infuse some of the smokiness from the grill, then finish off in the oven.
- With that said, heat up your charcoal, hot coals on on half, no coals on the other half of the grill.
- This will allow you to control the grill should any of the skin grease flare up.
- Pull the chicken out of the marinade and put each piece onto the grill, skin side down.
- Let it cook for about 5-10 minutes, or until you get a bit of nice flame and crust on the chicken.
- Turn them over, and cook another 10 minutes, making sure to cover the grill if the heat gets out of hand.
- This will allow those coals to settle down and get those nice, smoke clouds inside the grill.
- Preheat your oven to 375 F while the chicken grills.
- Once they are partially cooked, remove them from the grill into a large casserole dish, or baking dish that can be covered with a lid, or with foil.
- Cover the dish with foil or a lid.
- Add the dish of chicken into the preheated oven, and cook for another 45 minutes or so, or until the internal temperature of the chicken is around 160-165 F. Once cooked, remove the dish from the oven and set it on a rack and allow the chicken to rest and take a bath in their released juices.
- So once the chicken is cooked, remove the chicken to a plate.
- You will be left with a lot of juices, good juices at that.
- If you have a fat strainer, this would be the time to use it.
- Just pour the juice into the strainer and skim off the fat.
- If not, no big deal as there is not a whole lot of fat that remains due to the grilling process.
- Remove the skin from the chicken breasts and discard it.
- Take the breast of each chicken and carefully remove the meat from the bone.
- Next, chop the chicken meat into bite sized pieces.
- The add the chicken back into the juices.
- Repeat with all of the chicken.
- Now I made a lot of chicken thinking I would have plenty of leftovers for the work week.
- But heres the deal.
- Everyone in the family loved this Peruvian chicken so much that I had nothing, and I mean nothing left for the week.
- I served mine with a mixed black bean and rice, Peruvian mayonnaise, mixed kale salad, some limes and fresh corn tortillas.
- You would think that this dish might be spicy with the habanero peppers, but let me tell you, the balance is just perfect.
- The fresh lime and garlic are the stars of the show, then the fresh herbs and chili peppers just perfect the chicken.
- You get a bit of smokiness from the grill, and wow, just wow is all I have to say.
- This one is a must make.
- Hope you enjoy.
garlic, mint leaves, fresh cilantro, whole limes, ground cumin, oregano, sugar, paprika, salt, pepper, chiles, chicken breasts, olive oil
Taken from tastykitchen.com/recipes/main-courses/peruvian-chicken/ (may not work)