Chicken Inasal

Chicken marinated in calamansi and lemongrass, basted with annatto oil over coals.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains chicken.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg chicken, in quarters, slashed to the bone
• juice of 12 calamansi, or 4 limes
• 4 stalks lemongrass, white parts, finely chopped
• a thumb of ginger, grated
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 120 ml cane vinegar
• 60 ml soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons annatto seeds
• 120 ml oil
• 60 g butter
• 1.5 teaspoons salt

Method

1. SLASH THE CHICKEN TO THE BONE two or three times on each piece. The marinade is thin and does almost nothing to an unslashed thigh in the time available.
2. Marinate in the calamansi, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, vinegar, soy, sugar and salt for AT LEAST 4 HOURS, overnight for preference.
3. Make the annatto oil separately: warm the seeds in the oil over a low heat for 5 minutes until it turns deep orange, then LIFT THE SEEDS OUT and discard them. Melt the butter into the oil.
4. Seeds left in go bitter and gritty, and annatto is there for colour and a faint earthiness, not for texture.
5. Grill over charcoal burnt down to embers, 20 to 25 minutes, turning often.
6. BASTE WITH THE ANNATTO OIL EVERY TIME YOU TURN IT, five or six times. The colour builds in layers and a single coat at the end just drips into the fire.
7. Serve with more annatto oil, calamansi and a dipping sauce of vinegar, soy and chopped chilli.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Philippines · All recipes