Name: Chilli and garlic chicken
Yield: serving
Cuisine: Braai
Ingredients: 1 chicken whole; 1 lemon; 6 cloves garlic cloves; 2 Tbs dried chillies crushed; 1/2 cup olive oil extra virgin; 1 cup lentils green; 1 garlic whole bulb; 1 red chilli; 1 red pepper; 1/2 red onion; 1/2 cucumber; 1 preserved lemon; 1/2 cup olives green, pitted; lemon juice only; 20 g fresh mint; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 6 lemons; 125 ml lemon juice; 250 ml salt

Recipe Disclaimer

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Ingredients (19)

1	chicken — whole
1	lemon
6 cloves	garlic — cloves
2 Tbs	dried chillies — crushed
1/2 cup	olive oil — extra virgin
1 cup	lentils — green
1	garlic — whole bulb
1	red chilli
1	red pepper
1/2	red onion
1/2	cucumber
1	preserved lemon
1/2 cup	olives — green, pitted
	lemon — juice only
20 g	fresh mint
	salt and freshly ground black pepper

PRESERVED LEMON:

6	lemons
125 ml	lemon juice
250 ml	salt

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Method:

Cut the lemon into quarters and then slice them thinly. Peel the garlic and cut the cloves into thin slices. Combine the lemon and garlic with the dried chillies and 30ml (2 tablespoons) of the olive oil. Rub this marinade all over the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in a Weber over indirect coals for aprox an hour depending on the size of your chicken. The chicken should be golden and the juice in the body cavity should be clear.

Put the lentils in a saucepan with the bulb of garlic and the red chilli and cover with water. Simmer the lentils for aprox 40 minutes until soft. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to lentils to cool in their coking liquid.

Chop the red pepper, red onion, cucumber and olives into a neat dice roughly the same size as the lentils. Remove the rind of the preserved lemon and dice. Drain the lentils, remove the garlic and chilli and add all of the chopped vegetables together with the lemon juice and the rest of the olive oil. Roughly chop the mint and add to the salad then season with salt and pepper.
Cut the chicken into quarters and serve on top of the salad in a large platter.

Preserved lemon

Cut the lemons as if to quarter them but don’t cut through the base so that the quarters remain in tact at the bottom. Fill the lemons with the salt and place them in a glass jar. Pour in the lemon juice and seal the jar. Turn the lemons occasionally so that they are all evenly submerged in the brine. Keep the lemons in the fridge for six weeks before they are ready to use. When they are ready cut away everything except the rind, this is the only part that is usable as the flesh and pith will be too salty. This rind when diced or cut into strips gives a fantastic zing to salsas and dip as well as subtle seasoning when added to soups and stews.

Wine notes
A good wooded white wine would go down a treat, preferably something that could stand up to the spice – a nice fat chardonnay or an aged Semillon for example.

Recipe reprinted with permission of Weber.

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