
This recipe is dedicated to Michie, my favorite cousin's wife. Hope you get a chance to get a taste of this wonderful smoky, vinegary chicken soon Michie.
Ask any person from Bacolod about Inasal and they will shout "Manukan Country!". Manuk or manok is chicken in Filipino. When I was in high school, we lived in Bacolod city, about an hour's plane ride away from Manila. There, we had a chance to discover the joys of eating in Manukan country, a 2-3 block long outdoor grill restaurants.
When you order chicken inasal, you have a choice of pa-a (which is a leg and thigh quarter), pecho (breast and wing together), pakpak (about 3-4 wings), bituka (intestines) and puso ( about 8 to 10 chicken hearts - our family favorite). All of these items are skewered in about a foot and a half long bamboo sticks. Sides to go with your grilled items are freshly blanched and shucked tiny oysters called sisi and steaming hot rice topped with toasted garlic bits and chicken fat colored brilliant orange with annato seeds. To make your sawsawan (dipping sauce), on the table, you have an array of soy sauce, cane vinegar, bird chilis and calamansi halves. I usually mix everything except the bird chilis which are wicked hot.
I am fortunate to have the recipe for Chicken Inasal as my brother married a girl from Bacolod. And instead of buying costly lemongrass, a key ingredient in the recipe, here in Korea (3-5 stalks cost $5!!! *gasp), I had Bill bring over about 10 bunches of lemongrass which my Dad picked from their backyard. These I froze and just thaw out as I need. And if you really can't find lemongrass, just zest 2 lemons and add that to the marinade. It's a good enough substitute.
Chicken Inasal (Grilled Lemongrass Chicken)
Ingredients:
4 pounds chicken cut into serving/grilling pieces
juice of 2 lemons
1 cup white vinegar
1 medium ginger, pounded with skin on
4 stalks of lemongrass pounded slightly
SALT to taste.
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients & marinade for 3 hours. Skewer the chicken with bbq sticks and grill over hot charcoal fire until done. Brush with chicken oil (chicken skin FRIED IN OIL & then strained) when chicken is nearly done. This will make the skin extra crispy and lock all the juices inside.
*SERVE WITH DIPPING SAUCE (mix together)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
juice of one lemon
chopped chili peppers (if you like the heat)
1 tsp Sugar
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