Kravings Food Adventures by Karen Ahmed: Middle Eastern Roast Chicken with Toum

This post is all about Mother's Day. One day to respect and shower a person with love and affection that we should be doing year long. I'm part of a group of YouTubers called Tastemade and when they spoke about creating a collaboration for Mother's Day, I jumped at the opportunity. This Mother's Day is especially hard for me as my mother has not been well for the last 3 months and it's been a very difficult time for all of us. I based this recipe on all the flavours my mom would love and although we can't celebrate this year, I hope to celebrate with her in the near future.

This roast Chicken is smothered in a delicious marinade made with ingredients like olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, harissa, sumac, salt, pepper and pomegranate molasses. It's roasted to perfection and served with a delicious Toum which is an authentic garlic paste served as a dip or a spread. You can find that recipe here

Ingredients

4 Chicken quarters – skinned and cleaned

Marinade

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice of a lemon

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tsp harissa

1 tsp coarse salt

1 tsp coarse pepper

1 tsp sumac

I lemon sliced

1 onion sliced

1 – 2 tbsps toasted pinenuts

Parsley for garnish

Toum for dipping

Arabic pita

Olive oil

Process

Score the Chicken and store it in a ziploc bag with the marinade in the fridge overnight

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees and add a roasting pan

Once the roasting pan is hot, add the Chicken and return to the oven and cook for a period of 25 mins

In the mean time, pour the leftover marinade from the bag into a saucepan and cook it on a high heat till it reduces by half. This will kill all bacteria

Remove the chicken fom the oven in between and baste with half the marinade

Remove the Chicken from the oven after 25 mins and flip over, baste with the remaining marinade and add the lemon and onion slices

Return for another 20 mins

Turn the oven to broil setting for another 7 – 10 mins

Remove and sprinkle with extra sumac and pine nuts and serve with tomb and kabobs. Garnish with parsley