Djemaa el-Fnaa chicken on spikes with some chewbacca chermoula
Named after the UNESCO world heritage site, the Djemaa el-Fnaa in Morocco is buzing with life and has a large number food stalls selling an array of BBQ cooked meats. This chicken is super easy to do and tastes far more complex; with undertones of cumin, the kick of paprika, and lemon cutting through the garlic! The chicken is crumbly soft due to the chewbacca (you have to introduce Star Wars asap in life!) chermoula marinade and dressing, meaning it can be a good starter-ish food. As the pieces of chicken are not massive, but too big for little one to eat in one go; I would wait until their pincer grip is developed, at around 9-10 months, and I would cut into small bite size pieces – but you know your child best, so follow your instincts.
Serves 2 grown-ups and a little one
Ingredients
Chermoula Marinade
2 chicken breasts – cut up into 2-3 cm chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
½ tsp cumin
Chermoula dressing
80 ml lemon juice
120 ml olive oil
1 ½ tbsp chopped corriander leaves
1 ½ tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
3 garlic cloves
½ tsp coriander
3 tsp paprika (ideally pimenton, but dulce (standard) paprika will work too, just add a pinch of chilli)
3 tsp cumin
Method
1. At least 6 hours before, ideally the day before mix all marinade ingredients together with the chicken and pop in a bag/sealed container in the fridge.
2. Using pre-soaked bamboo skewers or metal skewers thread the chicken.
3. Place on a BBQ or under a medium heat grill, turn regularly and cook for around 15 mins, check the chicken is fully cooked by cutting open across the biggest chunk.
4. To make the dressing gently toast spices in a pan over a medium heat for 20 seconds until fragment the. Mix with all other dressing ingredients.
5. To serve place the skews over a bowl, so the chicken is hanging above the surface of the bowl and pour the dressing over the chicken, the dressing then coats the chicken and excess drains off. This should give you perfectly dressed chicken pieces.
Tips
It's a really quick meal and perfect for summer BBQs. It does feel a waste that the dressing mostly falls off, if I was cooking this on mass at a BBQ I would use the dressing that flows off on the next batch of cooked chicken skewers. I serve this with harissa spiced chunky potatoes, flatbreads, chargrilled asparagus spears, salad, and a plain yogurt and hommous to dip. The chicken is crumbly soft due to the chewbacca (you have to introduce Star Wars asap in life!) chermoula marinade and dressing, meaning it can be a good starter-ish food. As the pieces of chicken are not massive, but too big for little one to eat in one go; I would wait until their pincer grip is developed, at around 9-10 months, and I would cut into small bite size pieces – but you know your child best, so follow your instincts.
Facts
Named after the UNESCO world heritage site, the Djemaa el-Fnaa in Morocco is buzing with life and has a large number food stalls selling an array of BBQ cooked meats. Chermoula is a marinade used in cooking across North Africa, traditionally used to flavour seafood, but it can also be used on meats – so you could also using it on some king prawns on the BBQ too!