Broiled Coconut Chicken

I've been living a more comfortable life for a year now.  Today is the first year anniversary of my "executive assistant".  So far S has been very reliable.  She's grateful to have been given the chance to improve their life (financially) and I always make sure that she knows that we're also grateful to her for making our lives easier.   I told her yesterday that we'll celebrate her anniversary with pancit (noodles) and chicken.  I always associate pancit+chicken with birthdays and celebrations and I'm sure I'm not the only one with this mindset.  S made the pancit, it's one of the things I trust her with.  Don't laugh because I do trust her a lot.  I leave money and jewelry lying around the house and I trust her to care for my son when I sneak out for groceries and some errands.  Those are just some of the major trust deal.  So when I say I trust her with pancit, it's a big deal.  Food is a big deal in this house.  She's a little nervous using the turbo broiler so I made the chicken.  I used one whole chicken, cut in half by the butcher.  One half, I just seasoned with salt and broiled.  We call it "turbo chicken" or sometimes just "turbo" when I was younger, and now I still hear my nephews calling it that way.  That's the only way my mama cooks chicken in her turbo broiler.  I've been experimenting lately that's why I always make half portion "safe" for Nanawu and S.  The experiments have worked so far.  The chicken in the photo above is proof of that.  

I adapted the recipe from Pinoy Cook.  Anything with coconut is yummy for me.  Not for Naddy though. So I have to be careful and make sure the coconut doesn't really stand out.  Why he dislikes coconut is beyond me.  I never forced him to like it because he has tolerated enough (virgin) coconut oil from my face.  VCO cleared my skin so you can say that I am a believer of the benefits of vco.   But I digress.  Here's the recipe I used:

1/2 chicken
1 T sea salt
1 T turmeric
1 t cumin
1 t ground coriander
1 t cardamom
3 cloves of garlic grated
equal amount of grated ginger
coconut milk just enough to coat the chicken
*T=tablespoon; t=teaspoon

Pierce chicken all around, mix dry ingredients and rub onto chicken.  Add  coconut milk, garlic and ginger and massage the chicken so that the marinade gets through the meat.  I just marinated this for an hour but I can only imagine what overnight marinating can do.  Must be yummier.  Oh well, next time.  Cook the chicken in a turbo broiler (180 C) for about 20-30 minutes or until skin looks crispy.   I'm not sure if this is necessary but this has become my habit and they turn out well so might not be totally incorrect-- I always preheat the broiler and I start with skin side up. Once the skin gets puffed and looks matte, I turn it over to cook the other side.  I turn it again to crisp the skin and it's done.  

Naddy had 3 more servings of rice.  It could be that he was just hungry or this really was a hit for him-- I'd like to believe the latter.  Drizzle the chicken and rice with chicken drippings left in the pan,  top with garlic bits if you don't have garlic rice and  yum-yum!   This is a finger-licking good chicken that I will definitely do again.