Spicy & Saucy! Chicken Africana with Harissa
Join us in the kitchen as we whip up a tantalizing Chicken Africana, bursting with bold flavors and spicy notes. In this recipe, we start by injecting chicken breasts with a saltwater brine to ensure they stay juicy and flavorful. Next, we sear the chicken to golden perfection, then set it aside to prepare the aromatic sauce. Our sauce is a rich blend of onions, crushed tomatoes, fresh ginger, and fiery Harissa, simmering together to create a harmony of flavors. The chicken is then braised in this savory mixture, absorbing the delicious spices and seasonings. Perfect for a cozy dinner or a special occasion, this dish brings a piece of Africa right to your plate. Watch, learn, and enjoy making Chicken Africana with us!
Ingredients
Injection Brine
- ½ L cold water
- a heaping tablespoon of rock salt
- 5 medium size onions
- 1 big ginger
- 3 cans of chopped tomatoes
- 1 L homemade chicken stock
- 1 tbsp harisa
- 1 tbsp of coriander and caraway
- a pinch of salt
- a pinch of freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- poke the chicken with your injection brine needle one time from each end into the chicken, give it some water from the other end and when they are all injected then take the rest of the liquid and pour it over so you submerge them in salt water
- place the tray with the chicken in the fridge
- chop the onions down in the middle and dice it up semi fine
- take the ginger on a micro-planer to dice it up semi fine like the onion
Sear the Chicken
- in a pan running at medium to high heat add 2 tbsp of peanut oil or avocado oil
- take the chicken breast out of the water and pat them dry, add them to your pan straight up and get a sear on them
- once seared on all sides, remove them from the pan as they will be cooked in the sauce
- turn down the heat and let the pan cool off
- as the pan now has cooled down a little bit add all the onions, crank up the heat to very low so that you start sweating out the onions very slowly, this will take approx. 30 to 45 minutes before they're ready
- once they start simmering close them up with a lid and then, just let them slow bubble
- give them a stir so they don't burn in anywhere in the middle
- remove the onion from the pan and add all the ginger, crank up the heat a little bit just to get it fragrant
- when you start smelling in the ginger add half a bottle of dry white wine and bring that up to a simmer so to deglaze the pan and until the alcohol has evaporated
- add 3 cans of chopped tomatoes
- add 1 L of homemade chicken stock
- add 1 tbsp harisa
- add 1 tbsp of coriander and caraway
- add a pinch of salt I don't want to give it too much
- add a pinch of freshly cracked black pepper
- combine all of this and let that simmer, you can do it at relatively high heat because you want it to reduce or to thicken up a bit
- place the lid and let it boil 45 minutes to an 1 hour
- add the chickens in one by one and nestle them into the sauce
- cook this for 45 minutes or until core temperature reaches 67 - 68
- let it cool down to good eating temperature
- ready to serve