cook: halal cart chicken with rice, salad and sauces

I had a Serious Eats' tab for Halal Cart-Style Chicken and rice with white sauce on my computer for a few days and a bag of chicken thighs thawing in the fridge. Yesterday morning, I pureed in the blender, canola oil and olive oil, lemon juice, 3 fat cloves of garlic, a handful of fresh oregano, ground coriander, salt and pepper.                              

 

After clay club, I took the chicken out of the fridge to come to room temperature. I hadn't reserved any of the marinade like the recipe called for, and so I drained the excess marinade and heated it in a little pot to simmer and then pour over the cooked chicken. I started with the sauces first. The white sauce called for mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, sugar, lemon juice, white vinegar, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. There was no recipe for a harissa-style sauce, and so I cobbled together one with yogurt, sour cream, harissa spice (which I think contains dried red chilies, paprika, garlic, cumin and coriander), and red zhug. I put both sauces in squirt bottles.

 

Sauces done, I started the rice: basmati rice, turmeric, cumin, butter, chicken broth, salt and pepper. It smelled and looked good, and I can see eating rice instead of pita bread for my hummus bowls. I got my cast iron grill pan searing hot and laid the chicken thighs down for 7 minutes, flipping over to other side to cook for another 3 to 5 minutes on medium.

While the meat was searing, I made a salad dressing with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper and cut a couple tomatoes in small cubes which I laid into the dressing. Atop the tomatoes, I tore green leaf lettuce.

 

After the chicken read an internal temperature of 165 degrees, I laid it all on a cutting board to chop into bite size pieces. 

Dinner ready for plating.

I will totally cook this again. And I would serve it to guests.

I've never eaten from a halal cart in New York City. This recipe was hella tasty, but I've no idea if it tastes anything like the real deal, which means some day I've got to return to the Big Apple and taste for myself.