Chicken Yassa -Yassa au Poulet

Last year before my birthday I sent a list of things that my husband could buy me from Amazon.  One of the things I asked for was a recipe book "Cooking the West  African Way" by Montgomery and Nabwire.  I read the book but haven't really made anything from it.  A few weeks ago my husband was telling me about this chicken that we should make.  I had thought he was getting the recipe from his mom but he had found it is in the cookbook.
As we were making it, I really wondered how it would taste, but it was good.  The flavor was wonderful.

Chicken Yassa

This is a recipe from Senegal that is served at special occasions.

1/4 cup lemon juice

4 large onions sliced - I used one large red onion 

5 tbsp peanut oil

1 habanero pepper ~ I used a hot pepper that received at the African market

1 2 1/2 - 4 1/2 lb precut chicken - I used 4 chicken breasts

1/2 cup water

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

In a deep bowl, mix the lemon juice, onions, salt, pepper and 4 tbsp peanut oil.  Using a fork pierce  the pepper and add to marinade  Let the marinade  sit for 15 minutes and then check for spiciness.  If hot enough remove pepper, if not let stand for a bit longer.

Once marinade spicy enough and you have removed the pepper (I left my pepper in the marinade for the whole time), add chicken and stir to coat.   Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and store in refrigerator over night ( I only marinated the meat 6 hours). 

To cook, preheat broiler.  Remove the chicken pieces from marinade and place on tinfoil on the broiler rack.  Broil briefly until the chicken is lightly brown.  Place on plate and set aside.

Strain the onions from the marinade.  In a large frying pan, heat 1 tbsp peanut oil over medium heat.  Add onions and saute until soft and tender.

Add the rest of the marinade and cook until the mixture is heated through evenly.

Add brown chicken pieces and water.  Stir to coat.

Lower heat, bring mixture to simmer and cover.  Cook at least 30 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked.

Serve the yassa hot over rice.

Enjoy.  I ate mine with quinoa

 Even thought we didn't use as much chicken as the recipe called for the marinade seemed to be enough and not too much.  If you use more chicken I would probably make more marinade.  I would also next time use more onions as most of the flavor of the marinade was in the onions.

Marlys

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