Food bite: Chicken Inasal Recipe

Want to know a different way to cook chicken aside from frying and turbo chicken? Bacolod, the City of Smiles, has this popular chicken dish called “chicken inasal.” What makes it different and unique with other barbecue or grilled chicken is the way they marinate the chicken with different ingredients before grilling time.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken cut into 6 parts (legs, wings, breasts)
• 1 head garlic, macerated
• 2 tbsps. chopped ginger
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sinamak, (native coconut vinegar)
• 10 pieces calamansi, extract the juice
• 3 stalks tanglad (lemon grass), julienne
• salt and coarsely ground pepper

Basting sauce:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup atsuete (annatto seeds) oil
• salt and pepper
• large bamboo skewers
• charcoal for grilling

Marinating & cooking procedures:

In a mixing bowl, mix garlic, ginger, vinegar, a small amount of sugar, tanglad, calamansi juice, salt, and pepper then add the chicken meat. Lightly rub the marinade on the meat. Place chicken in the chiller and let sit for 30 minutes and then turn the meat and let it sit for another 30 minutes. Not advisable to marinate the meat overnight because the vinegar will break down the enzymes of the meat.

Then in a saucepan, over low fire, put margarine and annatto seeds for few minutes with continue stirring until the margarine melts and the annatto seeds are well infused and have developed a deep orange color. Turn off heat then add a small amount of salt and pepper to taste.

After marinating the chicken, put several slits on the part near the bone to help with cooking the meat fully. Skewer the meat and cook over hot charcoal grill, skin side down, basting it once in a while. As much as possible do not turn the meat more than twice since the result will be drier meat.

Serve while hot together with garlic rice and soy sauce with calamansi and siling labuyo (red chili peppers).