Turmeric chicken platter

Serves 4

Prep time: 1 hour for marinade, 25 min to prep and cook

Like so many of my recipes, this one originated from “we need to use up what is in the fridge” - in this particular occasion I had bought harissa paste because I realized I didn’t often use it - and thought having it in my fridge would encourage me to create something new. I like how this one came out. In our house, we have widely different spice tolerances (my 5 year old doesn’t like anything spicy, my husband loves everything spicy and I’m hit-or-miss), so I served the harissa sauce on the side.

For the chicken:

1/2 cup plain yogurt

juice and zest of 1 lemon

small onion, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

generous pinch of salt

1/2 t of each ground ginger, garlic powder and tumeric

1 lb boneless/skinless chicken breast

For the rest of the platter:

1 can of chickpeas (15 oz)

2T olive oil

1 English cucumber with half of the skin removed, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

4 oz block feta

juice and zest from 1 lemon

1-2T harissa paste

1T honey

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 cup brown rice

Begin by making the marinade. Mix together all the ingredients, and coat the chicken on both sides. Allow to marinade in the fridge for 1h or longer. In a pinch, you can marinade for 20 minutes at room temperature, but the chicken will not come out quite as tender.

While the chicken is marinating, assemble the rest of the platter. Add 2.5 cups of water to a small pot, bring it to a boil, add a large pinch of salt and 1 cup of rice - I use brown basmati but you could replace with whatever you prefer. Reduce heat to low and allow to cook until the rice has taken on all the liquid.

For the harissa sauce, combine the harissa paste (1T for a more mild paste, 2T for spicy), honey and 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt in a blender, and pulse until combined and smooth.

For the crispy chickpeas, add the canned chickpeas to a colander and drain well. Then pat dry with paper towels and allow to dry for ~5 minutes. Heat olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat and add the chickpeas, with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Allow to cook until brown on all sides, shaking the pan every two minutes or so to make sure all sides are browned. Once browned, transfer to a plate with a paper towel to allow to cool and drain.

To assemble the cucumber salad, cut the cucumber and feta into 1/2 inch cubes and mix, adding salt and pepper to taste. Dress with juice and zest from 1 lemon.

Finally, grill the chicken. Pre-heat the grill to medium-high (550-600 degrees F) and grill on each side until blackened and cooked through, about 5 minutes on each side. Allow to rest for 10 minutes, slice, then assemble the platter.

Substitutions:  

To make this vegetarian, replace the chicken with cauliflower, reduce the marination time to 5 min, and grill