When I'm in Hawaii, I always try to cook a themed dinner every Sunday when the whole family comes over. So I've done many themed nights, but I never did Persian night yet; which is a shame because I was taught by a good friend from the ski club several years ago how to cook a few Persian dishes. So, I packed a bunch of spices with the full intent to make fesenjoon chicken stew, koobideh (ground beef kabobs), shirazi salad (a cucumber tomato salad), an eggplant yogurt dip, falafels, and basmati rice.
But once I arrived in Hawaii, after further discussion with the family, this Persian night idea got nixed.
I was bummed because I already lugged over all these spices and the heavy bag of basmati rice. I certainly was not going to lug these back to the mainland! I mean, I need room in the luggage to bring back lau laus, portuguese sausages and cornflake cookies, you know!
So the inspiration came when I was staring at all these spices, wondering what I should do with them. I decided to mix a bunch of these spices together into a paste, marinate the chicken, and bake it to serve to a "smaller audience" (ie. just one sister-in-law, plus the hubby and father-in-law participated as guinea pigs).
The dominate spice here is sumac.
Sumac is a dried fruit that is grounded to a reddish-deep purple powder and used as a spice or condiment in some Middle Eastern dishes. It has a slightly tangy lemony taste, but more complexed. It's hard to explain...YOu just have to taste it. (Read more about Sumac here).
My Persian friend told me the best brand to get is Sadaf, which usually packages the spices in a plastic bag with green trims and Sadaf in red letters. You can find it at supermarkets in the international spice aisles. I even found it (Sadaf brand too!) at my local Ranch99!!!
Verdict from my in-laws? They liked it!!!
But since I didn't take notes or photos when I made it in Hawaii, I re-made it when I returned to document the recipe. Plus back on the mainland, I have NEW guinea pigs-- aka my my sisters. Ha ha!
Here's the step by step in photos. You can use chicken drumsticks, thighs or a mix of both. Bone in is the best for flavor. And I know saffron is expensive, so it is totally optional. If you don't have any or don't want to waste it, you can totally leave it out. I just happen to have a bunch from our Spain trip that I wanted to use up before it turned bad, so I threw it in. I even put some saffron in the basmati rice.
Yields 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 4 lbs Bone-in chicken thighs and/or drumsticks (about 12 pieces)
- 2 t salt
- 3 T mayonnaise
- 2 T sumac, additional for sprinkling after the chicken is cooked
- 1 t turmeric
- 1 ½ t granulated garlic powder
- ½ t sugar
- ½ t cumin
- ½ t saffron threads (optional)
- chopped parsley for garnish (optional)
Procedures:
1. Place mayonnaise, salt, sumac, turmeric, garlic, sugar, cumin and saffron in a bowl and mix to form a paste. Then mix the paste with the chicken such that the marinade fully coats all the chicken pieces. Allow chicken to marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
2. The next day, take chicken out of the fridge and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes for more even cooking. Meanwhile, line a baking tray with foil for easy clean up.
3. Place chicken pieces in a single layer, skin side up, on the baking tray. Bake in a preheated 400 F oven for 25 minutes. Then broil on high for 2 to 5 minutes until the tops of the chicken pieces are lightly browned and crisp, but not burnt. Garnish with additional sumac and serve hot with basmati rice. Since the sumac garnish gives the chicken a dark color, if you want to make the dish “prettier” you can garnish with additional chopped parsley for color.