Passport & Plate - Jerk Chicken enrobed in Calcutta Roll
Jamaica | Friday, March 6, 2015 | 5 photos
Ingredients
Servings 6-8
Ingredients
4 cup Jerk chicken shredded *
8 tbsp Jerk sauce *
8 Paratha *
8 tbsp sliced onion
8 tbsp julienned cucumbers
A few tablespoons beaten plain yogurt
A dash of lime juice
For the Jerk Chicken
A 3lb whole chicken cleaned and quartered. Cut deep gashes in the chicken so that the marinade can penetrate well.
Enough brine to submerge your chicken * (Depending upon your choice of container)
1 cup jerk marinade
For the Brine (This step can be omitted to save some time. However, it does prevent the chicken from drying out and adds a ton of flavor)
4 cups water
1/4th cup salt (I use coarse sea salt)
1 sprig thyme
6 allspice berries
2 pimento leaves (or bay leaves)
For the Jerk Marinade (Makes about 3 cups)
1.5 cups chopped scallions (whites and greens)
5 Scotch Bonnet peppers (unseeded)
5 cloves garlic
2 inch piece of ginger
3 tbsp fresh thyme
4 tbsp fresh lime juice
6 Pimento leaves (Or in its absence, 3 bay leaves)
2 tbsp allspice berries
2 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp nutmeg powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp salt
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup white vinegar
1/3 cup dark rum
For the Jerk Sauce (Makes 3 cups)
4 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
3 whole Scotch Bonnet peppers
1 small onion sliced
4 cherry tomatoes
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tbsp coarsely crushed allspice berries
1 tbsp coarsely crushed black pepper
1 tbsp dark rum
3 drops soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp salt
3 tbsp corn flour
4 cups water
Paratha ( You could opt instead for frozen Malaysian parathas from the local Asian market as the closest substitute)
1 cup all purpose flour + 1 cup for rolling
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
2 cups luke warm milk
5 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk (for each paratha)
How to prepare this recipePimento leaves and wood add a distinctive flavor to Jerk chicken. In their absence, bay leaves and mild fruit wood like orange or guava do quite well.
Brine
• Dissolve salt in boiling water
• Drop in spices and turn off heat
• Cool the brine
• Submerge chicken in brine for up to 2 hrs
Marinade
• Blend all the ingredients into a slightly chunky paste. Let stand
• Rub one cup marinade into the chicken, taking care to stuff inside the cuts and under the skin
• Cover and refrigerate up to 2 days
Grilling
If you have managed to obtain pimento wood chips, proceed directly to the grill. If not…
• Submerge the wood planks, a few bay leaves and 15 all spice berries in water for 2 hrs
• Crush the spices coarsely, then smear them onto the plank, taking care that all surfaces are covered
• Put the plank on the heated grill surface, spice side up. Place the chicken pieces on the plank and grill on Med Low for about 20 minutes, checking occasionally
• Turn the chicken pieces and grill the other side for another 20 minutes
Jerk Sauce
• Heat oil to smoking
• Drop in garlic, ginger and vegetables. Toss so they get charred
• Deglaze with the rum. Add the other ingredients
• Add 2 cups water and simmer for 1 hr, letting the flavors develop
• Dissolve cornflour in 1 cup water and add to the pan. Let the sauce thicken
Paratha
• Knead the dough well. Cover with a damp towel for 30 mins
• Take a golf ball sized piece. Roll it out as thinly as possible, using the extra flour.
• Put the paratha on a pre-medium heated pan for 20 seconds
• Flip and cook for another 15 seconds.
• Smear a few drops of oil on the paratha with a brush.
• Remove from heat.
• Add the beaten egg to the pan. Swirl and quickly top with the oiled side of the paratha.
• Smear more oil on the top of paratha, flip, press and cook for about 20 seconds
To assemble the Roll
• Lay the paratha egg side up
• Put chicken onto the middle
• Top with jerk sauce, onions, cucumbers, yogurt and lime juice
• Roll up
The story behind this recipe“I took a trip on a sailing ship….. when I reached Jamaica I made a stop.” Harry Belafonte’s mellifluous voice croons. At our house in North Calcutta, my father and grandfather watch George Headley bat against England and debate cricket strategy during our weekly Sunday lunch. I listen contentedly. It’s not so much that I understand the intricacies of the sport, but the language of love makes itself heard to my heart.
Twenty years later I set foot in Jamaica for the first time. The very silk cottons were rejoicing. As I tried my first mouthfuls of ackee, salt fish and steamed callaloo, a rush of nostalgia overwhelmed me. It was as if a world I had always subconsciously known had finally opened its doors to me. I delightedly set about reacquainting myself with it. That first evening, a tantalizing aroma pervading the air led me to a metal drum black with soot. One sight of the row of charred logs upon which were sizzling arrays of chicken, pork and shrimp, and I knew I had to master it. I was following the Arawaks in their cuisine, and I would beat them!
On our way to Ochi, a thunderstorm spangled the earth with raindrops. Magnificent ferns swayed seductively while trumpet trees arched high overhead, filtering the light into a shimmering luminescence. The smell of wet earth rising took me home to the monsoons in Calcutta. We stopped for lunch at the ubiquitous jerk shack snuggled into a nook in the road. One bite and I knew that I had found ‘It’. After relentless begging, the owner winked, “Its aawl inna de rum, Mon”. I took that literally. Since then, I’ve tried almost 20 variations of the recipe before I arrived at my nonpareil version. But something more was needed to turn it into my kind of soul food, the sort that brought home to mind. Now in the New York winters as I tenderly wrap succulent pieces of jerk chicken inside the folds of the Calcutta street roll, I can hear the roar of the crowd. My men in white are reaching for seconds.
