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Southern fried jerk chicken with cucumber pickle

Charita Jones from Market Kitchen
Make your own jerk and cajun seasonings with Charita Jones' hearty soul food recipe

Southern fried jerk chicken with cucumber pickle

Method

1. For the Cajun seasoning: put the ground spices, chilli flakes, sugar, onion flakes, mixed herbs and grated nutmeg into a food processor and blend to a fine consistency. Mix this with the salt and store in a jar. (It will keep for at least a month or longer in the freezer.)

2. For the jerk seasoning: put the spring onions, parsley and coriander into a bowl. Using a sharp knife, peel the lime cutting close to the flesh to remove all of the white pith. Cut it in half and take out the pips. Add to the bowl with half of the chopped chilli and use a hand blender to chop the ingredients.

3. Add the lemon juice then slowly add the oil while still mixing until it all blends together to a coarse paste. Mix in the salt, pepper, Cajun seasoning and mixed spice. The mixture should be smooth but not pureed. Taste and add the rest of the chilli if not hot enough. Leave to chill in the fridge - the flavour improves the longer it sits.

4. For the chicken : wash the chicken pieces and gently pat them dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Use a small sharp knife to make a 3cm cut in the fleshiest part of each chicken piece, creating small pocket. Stuff with momma's jerk seasoning. If you like it really hot, push some seasoning under the skin too.

5. Put the flour in a large plastic bag or mixing bowl. Mix in the Cajun seasoning, black pepper and garlic powder. Add the seasoned chicken pieces to the flour mixture and toss until fully coated

6. Heat the oil in a large deep frying pan and add the butter. To test the temperature of the oil, drop a pinch of flour in - if it sizzles immediately you can begin frying.

7. Put the coated chicken pieces skin down in the pan, cook for 5-8 minutes, over a medium heat until golden brown. Turn the pieces, cover the pan and cook for a further 6-10 minutes. Uncover the pan and turn the pieces again. Continue this until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

8. For the cucumber pickle: put the sliced cucumbers and onion into a bowl and sprinkle the sugar over them. Pour over the cider vinegar. Toss together until well coated. Leave to marinate for at least 1 hour.

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Serves: 4

Prep: 30 min, plus marinating time
Cook: 25 min

Ingredients

For the chicken

10 chicken pieces
jerk seasoning, for stuffing
2 tbsp Momma’s Cajun seasoning
200g plain flour
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
500ml vegetable oil, for frying
1 tbsp Butter

For Momma’s Cajun seasoning

2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp ground garlic powder
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika, (optional)
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp white sugar
60g dried onion flakes
25g mixed herbs
1 tsp grated Nutmeg
50g Salt

For Momma’s jerk seasoning

1 bunch Spring onions, roughly chopped
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
2 tbsp fresh Coriander, roughly chopped
1 lime
1 red or yellow Scotch Bonnet chilli, chopped
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 pinch salt and pepper
1 tsp Momma’s Cajun seasoning
1 pinch ground mixed spice