It took me a good while to figure out what would compliment this chicken but, I think I hit the nail on the head with this dish. I’ve put together a fabulous bowl of spicy Ethiopian chicken, brown sugar sweet potatoes, African spice dukkah white potatoes, coconut and sweet pea couscous (one of my faves), spicy shichimi dusted onion strings and finish it off with easy-creamy cilantro sauce. It all works so well together, you won’t believe it until you try it.
The Chicken:
4 medium chicken breasts, trimmed
1 tbs oil
2 tbs Berber spice
Cilantro Cream:
1/2 c cilantro, plus 1 c for serving
1 c real mayonnaise
1 ½ tsp lemon juice
Dueling Potatoes:
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 tbs oil
2 tbs brown sugar
2 medium russet potatoes, deemed and diced
1 tbs oil
2 tbs Dukkah spice
Salt to taste
The Couscous:
1-10 oz box plain couscous
1-13.5 oz can coconut milk
1/3 c frozen sweet peas
Dusted Onion Strings:
1 med yellow onion, peeled and thin sliced
2 tbs milk
1 c AP flour
1 tsp salt
Oil for frying
2 tsp Shichimi Togarashi
Start off marinating the chicken by placing the breasts, oil and Berber spice into a zip seal bag. Mix it all together and make sure your breasts are coated well on both sides. Squeeze all of the air out of the bag and seal. Refrigerate overnight.
Get the cilantro cream ready by combining the mayo, lime juice and cilantro in the food processor. Puré until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.
When you’re ready to make your bowls, heat your grill to roughly 400°. While the grill is getting ready, start preparing the potatoes. Preheat the oven to 400°. Seperate the potatoes on a large lined sheet pan. Coat the sweet potatoes in 2 tbs oil and toss with the brown sugar. Next, coat the russets in 1 tbs oil, Dukkah spice and salt. Bake off for roughly 30 minutes. The potatoes should be about done at that point and just need a little color on the tops, so finish off under the broiler for about 2 minutes. Once the potatoes are done, give the sweet potatoes a little toss to prevent them from sticking together.
While the potatoes are cooking, get the couscous ready. Bring the coconut milk to a boil over high heat. Turn off heat and immediately pour in the couscous. Stir with a fork to break up. Add peas, cover and allow to rest until ready to use. (This recipe calls for a 10 oz box of couscous and 1-13.5 oz can of coconut milk. This will make much more couscous than you probably need, so if you don’t plan on using the couscous throughout the week, simply cut the recipe in half.)
Preheat your deep fryer to about 340° for frying up the onion strings. While you’re waiting for the deep fryer to come to temp, go ahead and get the chicken going.
Spray the grates of your grill with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange the breasts on the grill so they are not touching and pour any remaining marinade over the tops. Cover and cook about 10 minutes. Turn chicken over and cook an additional 8-10 minutes until cooked through. Remove from heat and allow to rest while you’re getting the onions ready.
Start by combining the flour and salt in a deep bowl. Strain milk off onion strings and transfer strings to the flour. Dust off the flour and fry in batches for roughly 2 minutes or until the strings turn golden brown. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with Shichimi Togarashi. Repeat process with the remaining onion strings.
Time to get the bowls ready. Break the couscous up with a fork. Fill each bowl with about 1 1/2 c of the couscous pea mixture. Slice the chicken into 1/2 inch slices and place 1 breast in each bowl. Add about 1/4 c of each flavor potatoes to the individual bowls. Drizzle with some cream sauce and sprinkle with cilantro. Top each bowl off with some Shichimi dusted onion strings and there you go! A fantastic Ethiopian fusion bowl.
Girl-Chef Tastes 