Persian chicken with yoghurt and saffron

VERSION EN ESPAÑOL   pulsa aquíSince the saffron adventure I’ve been on the hunt for great saffron recipes and was very excited to discover this lovely chicken dish from the book “Persiana”  by Sabrina Ghayour.  Her recipe is an adaptation of a well know Iranian kebab recipe, Joojeh Kabob. This version is for the kitchen as opposed to the barbeque. The one change I’ve made is to use chicken thighs and not breast as she suggests. I find chicken breast dry and boring, not to mention expensive. I don’t use it at all anymore. The good news about this recipe is that there is nothing too obscure in terms of ingredients – lemon, yoghurt, turmeric and saffron  – yet the resulting flavour is subtly exotic. 

Plan a bit ahead of time and let the chicken really marinate to soak up all those flavours then while the chicken is under the grill, fry up the onions from the marinade. A great dish  which I’m sure you will love.

Ingredients

Serves 4

4 onions thinly sliced

Juice of 4-5 lemons (depending on size)

4 tbs olive oil

1 tsp ground turmeric

400 gr Greek yoghurt

2 tbs crushed sea salt flakes

Big pinch of saffron threads

3 tbs boiling water

6 large boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 2 inch chunks

 

Method

• Make the marinade by mixing the onions, yoghurt, lemon juice, olive oil, turmeric and salt. Break up the saffron strands, place in a small bowl and pour over boiling water. Allow to infuse (10 minutes)
• Add the chicken pieces to the marinade and mix all together then pour in the saffron. Cover and leave to marinate for minimum 1 hour but preferably  overnight.
• When ready to cook, heat the oven or grill (I prefer the grill for this) to maximum temperature. Take a baking tray and line it with parchment paper. Then, using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove the chicken from the marinade and lay the pieces out. Bake /grill for around 20 mins, until the edges slightly char but the chicken stays moist inside.  Be careful not to overcook. 
• While that’s cooking, heat some olive oil in a frying pan, remove the onion from the marinade and fry it.  Keep stirring and let it become thick and sticky. It will be a beautiful yellow colour and taste amazing.
• Spread the onions on a platter. Place the chicken on top and serve with either pita, rice or tortilla wraps, and some fresh crunchy salad. Delicious! You will love it. 

UPDATE: since writing this post I have been cooking the chicken on a barbeque which gives it an added smoky flavour. I cook the onions separately as above and serve together.