Jerk Chicken
We've always loved hot spicy food but we've loved it even more since starting to watch our weight. Spice and chilli add flavour without flab. If you can't get hold of scotch bonnet chillies, use two red bird's-eye-chillies and two plump or long red chillies instead. But don't deseed them - you need the heat for this marinade. Jamaiking me hungry already!
Info
PT61M- Serves
- 4 - 6
- Prep time
- 15 minutes, plus marinating
- Cooking time
- 25 minutes
- Calories
- 333 per serving
Tags
Ingredients
- 12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- lime wedges, to serve
- flaked sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Marinade
- 6 spring onions, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 20g chunk of fresh root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
- 2 - 3 scotch bonnet chillies, stalks removed
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3 tbsp dark brown sugar
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
Method
To make the marinade, put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz to make a thick purée. You'll need to remove the lid and push the mixture down a couple of times with a rubber spatula until you get the right consistency.
Put the chicken on a board and trim off as much fat as you can with good kitchen scissors. Slash each thigh a couple of times with a a sharp knife, put them all in a bowl and season with a little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Tip the jerk marinade on top and mix well, then cover and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 220C/Fan 200C/Gas7 and line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Place the chicken on the tray, shaking off any excess marinade as you go and shaping the pieces back into neat thighs if they opened out during marinating.
Bake the chicken for 25 minutes or until it is all thoroughly cooked, deep golden brown and charred in places. Serve hot or cold with lime wedges for squeezing and a large mixed salad. You could also serve small portions of rice if you like.