Azerbaijani Smoked Chicken, Hisə Verilmiş Toyuq
Azerbaijani Smoked Chicken is a delicious and easy recipe with few and easily available ingredients that tastes succulent and delicious.
Ingredients
- 1 kg whole chicken with or without skin
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 1 head garlic or 8-9 cloves of garlic
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil for brushing over the chicken and grating
Instructions
- Peel garlic. Add to a mortar. Add half of the salt and all the pepper. Pound with a pestle to get a smooth paste.
- Mix tomato paste, lemon juice and 1 table spoon melted butter or oil in a bowl.
- Add the garlic mix to the tomato paste and blend to make the marinade.
- Butterfly the chicken to reduce cooking time. To butterfly, use kitchen scissors or a very sharp knife and staring from the opening at the tail cut straight up.
- Keeping knife/scissors near the center of the bird, cut to the end. Spin the chicken and cut along the other side.
- Open up the chicken in the butterfly fashion. Break down a few bones to flatten it.
- Rub the remaining salt all over the chicken. Then rub the marinade generously on both sides. If using skinless chicken, make some deep cuts on the thickest parts for even and quicker cooking.
- Set aside the chicken to marinate for an hour. You can also marinate overnight or marinate and freeze to use when required.
- Time to set up the grill. We used our outdoors kettle charcoal grill. But I've also cooked the same recipe in my electric oven and smoked it later with a burning coal method. For cooking in the oven, check the TIPS at the bottom of the post.
- After the coals turn down to a steady ember (red glow, no flame) and the temperature stabilizes, brush the grating with oil or butter.
- Brush the chicken with oil or butter and place the chicken on the grating, skin side down or breast side down if using skinless chicken.
- Leave the chicken on the grill for 15 minutes or till that side is golden brown and looks crisp.
- Turn the chicken over and cook for another 20 minutes. or until the juices run clear when poked.
- While the chicken is getting cooked, you can quickly prepare the sautéed vegetables for side.
Notes
- For cooking in the oven, preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Bake the marinated chicken for 30 minutes covered with foil. Remove foil, brush the chicken with oil or butter. Bake uncovered another 10 minutes or till gets a lovely golden brown color. To smoke the chicken, place the cooked chicken in a deep dish. Put a burning piece of charcoal in a small cup. Place the cup in the middle of the dish over the chicken. Drizzle a few drops of oil over the coal and immediately seal the dish with a lid. Leave it for a few minutes to absorb the flavor and aroma from the coal.
- To speed up the process, make the marinade ahead of time and store in a jar.
- Marinade the chicken and freeze for a longer time or refrigerate overnight before the event.
- To double the recipe, cook two chickens simultaneously on the grill or in the oven if your appliance is big enough.
- Always bring cold chicken to room temperature, this saves it from over cooking and drying out.
- I doubt if there will be much leftovers - but just in case, this delicious Azerbaijani Smoked Chicken adds great flavor to pastas, salads, wraps and sandwiches.