Latin food is so so tasty and this recipe is a great place to start your South American culinary journey, it takes very little time, as with all marinades the longer its on the better before cooking but 30mins is fine if you're in a rush, serve it with a delicious charred sweetcorn salsa and you're winning. This recipe is for a spatchcocked chicken, basically turn the chicken over and using sharp kitchen scissors cut the backbone out, then turn back over and push hard on the breasts to flatten it out, this will save about 30mins cooking time, but you can cook it without spatchcocking if you prefer just lengthen the cooking time.
Prep time 10 mins
Cooking time 50mins-1hr (plus at least 30mins marinating time)
1 whole chicken about 1.5kg spatchcocked
2 medium green chillis, roughly chopped and desseded
1 scotch bonnet chilli, seeds removed and roughly chopped (use glove and try not to cut through the stalk at the top)
4 garlic cloves, crushed
Juice of 1 lime
1tbsp honey
1tbsp ground cumin
1tbsp ground coriander
1tsp smoked paprika
1/2tsp turmeric
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp pepper
Handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
2tbsp olive oil
2 corn cobs, kernels removed
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1/2tsp chilli flakes
Juice of 1 lime
Small handful of fresh coriander, chopped
2tbsp extra virgin oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all of the marinade ingredients together, using gloves massage into the chicken, being sure to get it in all the nooks and crannies. Cover and allow to marinade in the fridge for as long as possible but at least 1/2hour.
Remove your chicken from the fridge 20mins before cooking, during this time turn your oven on to 175c to preheat.
Pop the chicken in the oven for 50mins-1hr, (or according to the packaging if your not spatchcocking it)
While the chicken is in the oven start the corn salsa... Place the sweetcorn into a dry pan that has been heated to high, leave still until it begins to char, stir and then leave it again, this should take 10 mins in total.
Once nicely charred place in a bowl and add all the other salsa ingredients, stir to combine and leave to the side until the chicken is ready.
Check the chicken is perfectly cooked before eating and then cut into portions and serve on a platter with the salsa and some tortilla wraps!!
Enjoy!!
For some added char on the chicken, finish on the bbq or under the grill for the last 10mins.
