Halal Cart Chicken and Rice
This chicken is just like the halal carts in NYC. Super juicy, super flavorful, and super easy to make.
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Marinade Time10 hrs
Equipment
- Large bowl for marinating
- Large thick bottomed pan (should be able to fit the chicken)
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1¼ lb Boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1½ tbsp Canola oil For cooking the chicken (can be vegetable or corn)
- ½ cup Chicken stock
Marinade
- ½ tsp Cumin
- ¼ tsp Red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
- ¼ tsp Black pepper
- ½ tsp Onion powder
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- ¼ tsp Dried oregano
- 5 tbsp Greek yogurt
Rice
- 1¼ cup White rice
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 2¼ cup Chicken stock
- ½ tsp Turmeric
- ½ tsp Garlic powder
- ¼ tsp Cumin
- ¼ tsp Kosher Salt
- Couple twists of black pepper
The Sauce
- ½ cup Greek yogurt Any fat percentage
- 6 tbsp Mayonnaise Use a little more if you like mayo
- ½ tbsp White sugar
- 2 tbsp White vinegar
- 1 tsp Lemon juice More if you want a little extra zing!
- ¼ cup Fresh parsley
- 1 Garlice clove optional, but recommended, minced
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
The Salad
- ½ Head of iceberg lettuce sliced into ribbons
- ½ Large white onion Thinly sliced
- 3 Vine tomatoes Scooped and diced (see the video)
Instructions
Chicken
- 10-12 hours before cooking prepare and marinade the chicken. Place all of the chicken pieces into the bowl, combine spices in a separate small bowl, then cover the chicken in the spices (use tongs to keep your hands raw chicken free). After the chicken is evenly coated in the spices add in the greek yogurt and coat the chicken pieces evenly. Cover the bowl and refrigerate until ready to cook. I left mine for 10 hours, it was delicious, 10-12 hours should be perfect but you can also leave it overnight. The longer the chicken marinades the more flavorful and juicy it will be.
- When you're ready to cook the chicken place a large pan on the stove and turn it on to a medium high heat. Put 1-2 tbsp of a neutral oil in the pan (canola, peanut, vegetable) and get it hot. When the pan is hot place in your chicken, you should be able to fit it all in the pan at once.
- Cook the chicken on the first side until it is nice and browned and crispy. This should take about 5 minutes but keep an eye on it, everyone's stove is different! It will most likely be a little sticky on the bottom of the pan, that's all good just do your best to get it flipped over intact to cook the other side. Don't worry if your first side comes out a little dark, the yogurt marinade is full of lactose..which is basically milk sugar so it's going to carmelize.
- After cooking the second side for 4-5 minutes remove the chicken from the pan and immediately add in ½ cup of chicken stock (you can use beer or water if you don't have any stock). Using a wooden spoon scrape off all that delicious brown stuff from the bottom of the pan, and reduce the liquid to a simmer.
- While the liquid is simmering, chop up the chicken into small bite size pieces (less than an inch). When the chicken is chopped add it back into the pan and continue to cook it until it's cooked all the way through and the liquid has evaporated, about 5-10 minutes. Stir the chicken occasionally to get it coated in that pan sauce.
- That's it! Serve it up with rice, and white sauce! Enjoy!
Rice
- In a medium sauce pan melt the butter over medium low heat. Once the butter is melted add in the rice and spices. Toast the rice for 3-4 minutes or until it starts to brown, stirring once in a while to make sure nothing is burning.
- Once the rice begins to brown, add in the chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Once boiling cover the pot and lower the heat to simmer for 15 minutes. Check on the rice after 15 minutes and continue to cook if it isn't done (it should be done).
The Sauce
- For the sauce, simply combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together. Give it a taste for salt, pepper, and lemon. The sauce can be made ahead of time, I like to make it when I start to marinade the chicken. Refrigerate is made ahead of time.
The Salad
- Doesn't get much simpler than this. Slice the iceberg into ribbons about 1-2cm thick. Dice up the tomato and scoop out the innards, no one wants a soggy goopy salad. Thinly slice up the white onion.