Egyptian chicken and potato casserole
Middle Eats · ♥ 1.4K likes · 45.8K views · 8 min video
Read about whole bird in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 1.3 kg whole chicken
Break the chicken down into four pieces: cut through the skin along the natural line to expose the thigh joint, pop the thigh bones out of their sockets, free the oysters, and slice through the thigh joints to remove both legs.
Removing the legs from a whole chicken
Remove the wings at the joint, then stand the chicken upright and slice through the seam where the breast and rib cage meet, pull the carcass back and cut it free.
Wings, carcass and splitting the breasts
Split the breasts by slicing either side of the breastbone and pressing down through the bone. Keep the carcass and wings for stock or soup.
- 300 g onions
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1½ tsp black pepper
- ¾ tsp ground cardamom
- water
Blend the roughly chopped onions, garlic, salt, black pepper, ground cardamom and a splash of water into a fine onion paste; onion marinades tenderize the meat.
Blending the onion marinade
Put the chicken pieces in a Ziploc bag, pour in the marinade, seal and massage it in so every piece is coated.
Marinate in the fridge overnight, or at least four hours, then bring back to room temperature about an hour before cooking.
- 1 whole tomato
- green pepper
Slice the tomato about 3mm thick and cut the green pepper to the same size, removing the core.
- 2 whole onions
- 0.125 tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp salt
Slice two medium onions into 7mm circles and pull them apart into rings, then toss them with the pepper and salt until coated.
- 1 kg roasting potatoes
Slice one kilogram of roasting potatoes into circles the same thickness as the onions.
- 1 whole onion
- 1 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
Blend one onion, one clove of garlic, a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of pepper into a very fine paste and mix it through the potatoes.
- 1 whole green chilli
Lay a bed of onions in an oven proof baking dish, add a few slices of green pepper and optionally a green chilli poked with holes.
Layering the casserole
Top with the potatoes in as close to a single layer as possible; add 10 minutes to the cook time if they end up two layers deep.
- olive oil
Add more onions and peppers, then the chicken rubbed with olive oil, then the tomato slices on top of the chicken and more peppers and onions scattered over.
Cover with foil and bake at 200 celsius or 390 Fahrenheit for 50 to 60 minutes.
Check for doneness at 50 minutes, remove the foil and turn on the grill so the chicken browns.
Serve with plain white rice and a salad, spooning over plenty of the pan juices.
Serving and tasting