Cooking Lesson #920: Authentic Saudi Chicken Kabsa

…from the Perspectives’ Kitchen

How you doin’? Allow your tastebuds to travel back to the fantasy of the Arabian Nights. Kabsa is a much-loved Saudi dish that combines a bold contrast of Mediterranean flavors: it’s bright with sumac and lemon and yet full of earthy, warming spices like cumin, cinnamon and allspice. It’s also one of those showstopping platters that, with just a little forethought, you can make on an average weeknight. It’s one of the best and easiest sheet-pan dinners.
 
I like to start the Kabsa chicken in the marinade in the morning. This is an easy approach because it’s just lemon juice, olive oil, garlic cloves, and the spices — no chopping or fussing. And that gives the chicken plenty of time to soak up all that flavor.
 
About 40 minutes before dinner, you can toss it in the oven and then use the roasting time to prep all the garnishes and pour a glass of wine.

The Kabsa comes out of the oven a burnished  deep mahogany brown, very crispy, and so unbelievably juicy. The thing to do is to serve it on a platter of warm bread, lentils or rice so they sop up all that juicy goodness. If your family and friends are like mine, they’ll pull off chunks of bread just as I did with one of the princes in Dammam, KSA and fold them around the deeply aromatic chicken, crunchy toasted pine nuts and pungent red onion creating the perfect bite.

Prep time:  10 minutes
Marinade time: 1 hour or up to overnight
Cook time:  40 minutes
Yield:  4-6 servings

Ingredients 
2 pounds bone-in, skin-on whole chicken legs (leg and thigh)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons crushed garlic cloves
1-1/2 tablespoons sumac
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 cups cooked rice
4 pieces naan or crusty bread, warmed
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley for garnish
6 grilled lemon wedges, for serving
 
Directions

1. Using a chef’s knife, score the tops of the chicken legs diagonally, about 1” apart. This allows the meat to contract during cooking to stay crispy and juicy.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, sumac, cumin, allspice, cinnamon, salt, and black pepper.
3. Add in the chicken pieces and mix until the chicken is well coated.
4. Add in the red onions, cover with plastic wrap, and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour or up to overnight.
5. Pull the chicken from the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 400⁰ F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
6. Transfer the chicken pieces and onions to the sheet pan. Roast for 40 minutes or until the chicken is dark brown, the juices run clear, and the internal temperature reads 170⁰ F on an instant-read thermometer.
7. Spread the cooked rice on the serving platter, and place chicken pieces and onions on top.
8. Add warm naan around the sides of the platter and garnish with the pine nuts and parsley.
9. Serve hot with grilled lemon wedges.
10. Leftover chicken can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

ChefSecret:  I like to grill the lemon wedge garnish when I have the time; it improves the look of the plate and the flavor of the lemon. You can also serve Kabsa atop a bed of cooked rice. 

Quip of the Day:  What day of the week do chickens hate most? – Fry-day! 
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