The recipe I cooked on this episode is really special to me. It’s my favorite chicken dish in the world and I love the story behind it. My mother used to teach English at Florida Tech, a private university in Florida. The majority of her students were foreign nationals studying engineering or computer science. In the early 80’s a student from Pakistan met with my mother after class and offered her a cash bribe to pass her class. Being the ethical teacher she was, my mom refused his offer. The next day, the same student came to her office with two roasted chickens in a pan and a copy of this recipe! He passed the class and got an A!

PAKISTANI CHICKEN

Several years ago I was trekking through Rajasthan, India and had the pleasure of eating a near-identical chicken dish cooked on a grill. The recipe turned over to my mother simply says “broil till done”, which works…but can be tricky. I’ve experimented with this many times and the following is what I feel is the easiest way to roast this bird.

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Skin your chicken (pull it, cut it, rip the skin off…don’t worry about the wings though—too tricky), rinse, pat dry and season well with SALT and PEPPER (maybe a teaspoon of each). Place chicken, breast side up, in a smallish roasting pan a little larger than your bird--too big a pan will burn off all the precious juices!

TURN YOUR OVEN ON BROIL (or use a broiler if available).

In a bowl stir up your yogurt with your tomatoes, spices, ginger, and pepper. Taste it and adjust seasoning…add more salt and pepper, or chili flakes.

Pour about half of the yogurt mixture over the chicken—coat the bird.

BROIL the chicken breast side up for 7 minutes. Carefully remove it from the oven and with tongs or a big ass fork FLIP THE BIRD. With the breast down, put it back in the oven and broil for another 7 minutes. AGAIN, remove the pan and flip the bird breast side up.

I usually throw in two cans of GARBANZO BEANS at this point, completely optional but I recommend it ‘coz this yields instant veggies!

Spoon the rest of your yogurt mixture over the chicken and return it to the oven.
Set the temperature down to 375 degrees and bake for 40 minutes to an hour.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND investing in a digital thermometer—they’re really a fantastic tool. I use mine as a kitchen timer every day! Stick the barb in the thigh or thickest part of the breast and let it ride till the chicken hits 165 DEGREES!

Serve this baby with rice, flat bread (nan, pita, lavosh, rotis)…a nice cooling cucumber salad or raita.

ENJOY ENJOY ENJOY!