Chicken is roasted with potato slices and lots of garlic. One of the most popular oven chicken dishes in Syria. Serve with flat bread and dip in lemon garlic dip (It’s a must!).
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, cut
- 5 medium potatoes
- 1 head mashed garlic
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 4 bay leaves
- 1/2 tea spoon ground red pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried cilantro (kuzbara)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Wash chicken pieces and place in a big pot filled with water (I like to remove the skin since it’s too greasy, but its your choice). Add bay leaves and leave on high heat. Remove any froth. When all froth is gone, discard the boiling water and place the chicken in a big oven pan. (This should be a quick process just to clean the chicken. Some people choose to dip the chicken pieces in plain yogurt and saute them for a couple of minutes on each side. You may also place the chicken right away in the pan and season them).
- Paste the chicken with the mashed garlic (reserve one teaspoon for the potatoes).
- Season the chicken with salt, pepper and ground red pepper.
- Peel the potatoes and cut each of them in half lengthwise then cut each half into half a centimeter slices.
- Season the potatoes with salt, pepper, reserved mashed garlic and dried cilantro.
- Distribute the potatoes over the chicken in the pan and drizzle olive oil.
- Cover with foil and pop in a 425 oven.
- After 50 minutes, check doneness (juices should run clear from chicken). If almost done, uncover to brown the chicken and potatoes for 5 minutes.
- Serve hot with flat bread and Hamid w Toom (Lemon garlic dip).