Indian Lemon Chicken a la Joe



Indian Lemon Chicken a la Joe



About a year ago, I tasted some delicious chicken my friend Joe had brought to the office for a luncheon. It was really, really good and so I naturally asked him how he made it.

He kind of rattled off the ingredients for a marinade, estimating the amounts he used, and as soon as I got a chance I jotted it down on a piece of paper.

I have carried that very piece of paper around for an entire year and finally just made it. It's soooo good! (Why in the world did I wait so long?!) I made a couple of edits, like adding crushed red pepper, but aside from that this is the recipe Joe shared with me (or at least it's the one I wrote down).

Joe didn't have a name for his recipe so I named it based on my interpretation. As much as I'd like to name dishes really clever and cute things, I generally try to stick to the major descriptors so that, at a glance, you have an idea of what you're getting.


A good descriptive name for this dish would have been Joe's Really Amazing Lemon Chicken with a Hint of Indian Spice but I figured that was too long, so I went with Indian Lemon Chicken a la Joe ;-)

Indian Lemon Chicken a la Joe

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:

2 pounds chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces

1 Tablespoon canola oil for frying

fresh cilantro for garnish

Marinade:

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

fresh cracked black pepper to taste

3 Tablespoons yogurt (I used Fage Greek yogurt)

juice of one lemon

3-4 large cloves garlic, rough chopped (less if you don't LOVE garlic)

1 medium tomato

Place all of the marinade ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until liquified and well mixed.

Pour the marinade into a large zip top plastic bag, add chicken, seal, and turn to coat. Place bag in refrigerator to marinade several hours or overnight.

After chicken has marinated, heat non-stick skillet to medium - medium-high and add 1 Tablespoon canola oil. Next remove chicken from marinade and place in skillet. Discard marinade.

Cook chicken for approximately 10-15 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through and no longer pink inside.

left: chicken when first added to the pan (note: I added a little extra crushed red pepper because I like heat)
right: after cooking a few minutes, there may be some amount of watery liquid but it will cook away

left: liquid is starting to cook away
right: chicken is done

Serve over rice and garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired.

Indian Lemon Chicken a la Joe