Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Chicken Yassa




Yassa is a famous dish from senegal.  It can be made with different types of meat, but the key components is something along these lines:
1) meat marinated overnight with lemon or lime juice
2) a lot of onions
3) the meat is browned before adding to the stew
4) dijon mustard is almost always used as a primary sauce ingredient (influence from French colonization)
5) when researching recipes every version I saw was very different, it's a flexible dish

Yassa is tender meat in a savory sauce containing a lot onions.  If made right it's very flavorful, and it's usually made to be spicy.



3 servings

-------
PREP
-------

==Giant Bowl==
* ~1.5 lbs chicken into big pieces
* if there is any juice with the chicken put it into the marinade
* 4md / 2lg onions into thin slices (manage length to preference)

==Big Bowl==
* mince a habenaro
* 4~5 finely minced and smushed garlic cloves
* 1/4 cup lime juice freshly squeezed
* 1.5 tsp salt
* 1-2 tsp medium or fine ground pepper
* 2 Tbsp of peanut / olive oil
* whisk well

add the marinade to the Giant Bowl and toss well with hands or something

cover and marinate in fridge for 3-24 hours

==Prep Later==
(prep this stuff during downtime of the other cooking steps)
* 2 thinly sliced washed carrots (peeling not required)
* 5 thinly sliced pimiento stuffed green olives (reduce some if using big olives)

------------
COOKING
------------

* remove the Giant Bowl from the fridge so it doesn't freeze your hands later
* line a high edge medium baking pan with tin foil
* preheat broiler

==The Chicken==
* separate the chicken onto the pan, space evenly or as needed
* add ~1/4 cup salted water to the pan, or as needed to create a very thin layer
* once broiler is heated, broil the chicken on the top rack until lightly browned
* flip the chicken and broil until other side is also light brown
* set aside chicken once done if onions aren't yet ready, otherwise add to wok
* drain drippings into the marinade

==The Onions==
* meantime, heat a wok on medium heat until hot, smoking not required
* 1~1.5 Tbsp of peanut / olive oil
* squeeze most of the water from the onions using hands / strainer, or however
* cook the onions slowly until medium browned
* reduce heat if required to finish chicken and sauce

==Combining Everything==
add to the reserved marinade / drippings:
* 1.5~2 Tbsp dijon mustard
* ~1 Tbsp chicken boullion
whisk well

* leaving the heat on medium, add the sauce
* add the chicken if not yet added
* add the sliced carrots and olives

* once liquid boils, reduce heat to 1 notch above low and cover
* set timer for 30 minutes
(optional: can prick a habenaro to add a extra spiciness and remove it later)

* stop by once or twice while it's simmering to rotate and flip the chicken around
* make sure all chicken remains partially submerged

serve with white rice, can cook it during the simmering step



Prepped ingredients.  This time I substituted a big habenaro for 3 serranos and a spoon of my homemade habenaro salsa (I prefer mine on the spicy side).

Mixed for overnight marinade, I just took care of it after dinner the day before.

Separated onions, chicken, and pickling water.  I realized after the fact these chicken pieces are a little smaller than intended, if you picked up small pieces like I did, just half instead of fourth them.  This is actually important to make sure the chicken stays supremely juicy.

I'm only looking to brown the chicken a little bit.

Sauce and veggies that I prepped during the early cooking stages.

Browned onions.  You can brown them more or less if you prefer.

Chicken drippings :)  don't forget to mix them into the sauce.

Everything is mixed together and ready for simmering.  Pretty easy stuff!

No comments:

Post a Comment