I was intrigued by mnavarre 's topic on Halal Cart Grill Roasted Chicken, spatchcocked on the Weber. He loosely followed this Serious Eats recipe.
I was also intrigued by jhapka 's use of PBC's turkey hanger to make a stack of tandoori-style boneless skinless chicken thighs. He followed in the footsteps of kill2grill , who first wrote about the method with lamb and chicken.
So, by shamelessly copying much those three good cooks' approaches, I also added my own spin, modifying the Serious Eats recipe as follows:
First of all, I doubled the marinade for the 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs called for in the recipe. When it comes to delicious marinade, more is more, IMO.
Secondly, I substituted za'atar for the oregano in the marinade.
Thirdly, many Middle Eastern dishes are made better with the addition of a lot of sumac, IMO. ( mnavarre did this too in his version of the sauce. I upped the ante by sprinkling the marinated chicken with it prior to grilling.)
Fourth, I made the sauce more toum-like by adding a bunch of minced fresh garlic, tamed a bit in the microwave.
Fifth, I served the chicken as a delicious stuffed pita with a lot of that garlicy, tangy sauce, topped with thinly-sliced sweet onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes. So, deviating from the recipe, I chose not to serve the chicken and sauce over rice. Rice is said to be full of arsenic anyway.
And finally, I chose to use the 10 inch PBC skewers loaded with no more than 1 lb of thighs per skewer in hopes that the boneless skinless thighs would be safely cooked to the center in about an hour. It worked. The chicken was juicy with crispy browned edges.
So here's my spin on a PBC Skewer version of Halal Cart-Style Chicken as follows:
INGREDIENTS:
For the chicken:
For the sauce:
Thinly-sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet onions
*******************************************
DIRECTIONS:
I used my home-fashioned split grate so I could hang the skewers and also make up a batch of chicken leg lollipops (thanks, FishTalesNC , for the inspiration) at the same time for a friend.
And thanks again to mnavarre for his original ingenious adaptation of the Serious Eats recipe for his spatchcocked grilled chicken approach, and to kill2grill and jhapka for their posts about using a PBC turkey holder for a huge pile of boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Kathryn
Edited to acknowledge kill2grill's part in getting me to try this PBC method. It had originally slipped my mind that he was the first to post about skewering meat on the PBC turkey hanger to make schwarma. I always enjoy giving credit where credit is due.
I was also intrigued by jhapka 's use of PBC's turkey hanger to make a stack of tandoori-style boneless skinless chicken thighs. He followed in the footsteps of kill2grill , who first wrote about the method with lamb and chicken.
So, by shamelessly copying much those three good cooks' approaches, I also added my own spin, modifying the Serious Eats recipe as follows:
First of all, I doubled the marinade for the 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken thighs called for in the recipe. When it comes to delicious marinade, more is more, IMO.
Secondly, I substituted za'atar for the oregano in the marinade.
Thirdly, many Middle Eastern dishes are made better with the addition of a lot of sumac, IMO. ( mnavarre did this too in his version of the sauce. I upped the ante by sprinkling the marinated chicken with it prior to grilling.)
Fourth, I made the sauce more toum-like by adding a bunch of minced fresh garlic, tamed a bit in the microwave.
Fifth, I served the chicken as a delicious stuffed pita with a lot of that garlicy, tangy sauce, topped with thinly-sliced sweet onions, cucumbers, and tomatoes. So, deviating from the recipe, I chose not to serve the chicken and sauce over rice. Rice is said to be full of arsenic anyway.
And finally, I chose to use the 10 inch PBC skewers loaded with no more than 1 lb of thighs per skewer in hopes that the boneless skinless thighs would be safely cooked to the center in about an hour. It worked. The chicken was juicy with crispy browned edges.
So here's my spin on a PBC Skewer version of Halal Cart-Style Chicken as follows:
INGREDIENTS:
For the chicken:
- Marinade:
- 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or 2 tsp za'atar
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
- 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup light olive oil
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, trimmed of excess fat (6 to 8 thighs)
- Sumac for seasoning the chicken prior to skewering
For the sauce:
- 1 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced (microwave the whole peeled cloves for 30 sec before mincing to minimize the raw taste)
- 2 tsp white vinegar
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 Tbl sumac
- 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice or more, to taste
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Thinly-sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet onions
*******************************************
DIRECTIONS:
- Prepare the marinade for the chicken by combining all marinade ingredients in a deep container and then using an immersion blender to whip it to a smooth consistency. A blender could also be used. Season to taste with salt and pepper
- Pour 1/2 of the marinade over the boneless skinless chicken thighs which have been placed in a one-gallon sealable plastic bag. Seal the bag tightly, eliminating excess air, and massage well to work the marinade around the pieces. Reserve the rest of the marinade in the refrigerator until after the chicken has been cooked. Marinate the chicken for 1 to 4 hours, turning the bag occasionally. Marinate no longer than 4 hours because the chicken pieces can change texture if marinated too long.
- Prepare the sauce by combining all of the sauce ingredients, whisking to combine. Cover and store in fridge until ready to serve.
- Note: I microwave peeled cloves of garlic for 30 seconds to minimize the hot raw flavor of fresh garlic when used in a fresh (not cooked) sauce. This is a modification of a method suggested by Cook's Illustrated.
- Prep the PBC: start the PBC with a load of Kingsford Professional using the 15-10-10 method, if that works for you.
- Remove the chicken from the bag, piece by piece, sprinkling sumac generously on both sides of each piece before skewering. Do not wipe the marinade off the chicken pieces.
- Skewer no more than 1 lb of chicken per PBC Skewer, including any bits and bobs of the meat that you may have trimmed off for uniformity's sake.
- When the smoker is ready, hang the skewers of chicken. Keep the PBC temps at 350° to 400° by cracking the lid of the smoker as needed. Leave the second rebar out, if possible, to aid in temperature management. Cook time should be about an hour.
- When the chicken is cooked, remove the skewers to a cutting board. Slice the chicken from the skewers in generous chunks and place in a large shallow dish.
- Pour the remaining marinade, warmed in the microwave, over the smoked chicken chunks.
- Serve with pita bread, split open to form a pocket, by first adding a generous dollop of the white sauce, then a bunch of chicken chunks, then more sauce and the thinly-sliced fresh sweet onions, tomatoes, and cucumber on top. Keep napkins handy.
- Serve with homemade tabbouleh and hummus with fresh veggies. If you'd like rice, the recipe is in the Serious Eats link provided above. Mnavarre says it's a delicious rice recipe.
I used my home-fashioned split grate so I could hang the skewers and also make up a batch of chicken leg lollipops (thanks, FishTalesNC , for the inspiration) at the same time for a friend.
And thanks again to mnavarre for his original ingenious adaptation of the Serious Eats recipe for his spatchcocked grilled chicken approach, and to kill2grill and jhapka for their posts about using a PBC turkey holder for a huge pile of boneless skinless chicken thighs.
Kathryn
Edited to acknowledge kill2grill's part in getting me to try this PBC method. It had originally slipped my mind that he was the first to post about skewering meat on the PBC turkey hanger to make schwarma. I always enjoy giving credit where credit is due.
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