Chicken Roti
Chicken Roti is very popular all over the Caribbean. This version is from Trinidad. This is very similar to the Indian dish, butter chicken; just with Jamaican curry powder instead of Indian and without a ton of butter. This is great comfort food on a cold day.You can use skinless or skin on chicken. Your choice. I prefer to use skin on. I like the flavor the skin add to the dish. I also don't like to waste any part of an animal. I used bone in chicken thighs and drumsticks. Dark meat definitely works best for braising, but if you want to use white meat, please do. Last, but most importantly, I always will recommend using bone in chicken as opposed to boneless. You are utilizing all of the animal while extracting copious amounts of flavor from the bone. You can use boneless skinless chicken if you want, but it will not be the same. My goal through my food blog is to get Americans to not be afraid to spit out a bone into a spoon and set it off to the side like the rest of the culinary world.For the chickpeas, I prefer to use dried as opposed to canned. To me, canned are too soft and don't absorb as much of the juices as dried do. A 1lb bag of dried yields the equivalent of 4 cans, while costing less than half the price. So I boil a whole bag when making this and use the other half of the chickpeas for hummus.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 2 1/2 lbs bone in chicken pieces cut bite size
- 1/2 tsp white pepper
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp Jamaican curry powder
- 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon powder
Chicken Roti
- 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp allspice
- 3 tbsp Jamaican curry powder
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 2 cups boiled chickpeas or 1 can
- 2 cups cubed potatoes 1/2" cubes
- 1 habanero
- 3 cup chicken stock
- salt to taste
Instructions
Chicken Marinade
- Either skin or leave the skin on to 2lbs of chicken parts. I used drumsticks and thighs. With a cleaver, cut into bite sized pieces, about 1". Add all the marinade seasonings to the chicken. Mix well and marinate for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
Chicken Roti
- In a large sauce pan or dutch oven, heat up the cooking oil over medium high heat. Sauté the onions with garlic, thyme, allspice, cumin, smoked paprika, nutmeg, and curry powder. Cook until translucent; about 4 minutes.
- Add the marinated chicken pieces and the habanero. Cook for 5 minutes
- Add the chicken stock, chickpeas, and potatoes. Simmer on medium heat uncovered for 45 minutes.
- Now is a great time to roll a fatty. I like to set a timer to remind me when to check the food.
- Add salt to taste.
- Bowl it up and let the flatulents begin.
