Iraqi Grilled Chicken (Djaj Bil-Bahar Il-Asfar)

I love food from just about every country I can imagine. Diversity is imperative for the palette! These taste buds don’t discriminate and the more I keep my mind open to try new things, which includes food, I am continually impressed, delighted and on the rare occasion, shown what I don’t like!

In this Iraqi Yellow Spice-Rubbed Chicken (Djaj Bil-Bahar Il-Asfar), I think I finally got THE best grilled chicken recipe I have ever smelled on the BBQ. What’s more important is the taste matches the aroma!

Talk about everything from your spice cabinet and then some, this is for the adventurous…

First, start off by heating the coriander and cumin seeds, peppercorns, cardamom, chiles and cloves in a 10″ skillet over medium heat until seeds pop. I use my cast iron skillet for this and it makes quick work of it all. After one or two minutes allow to cool.

Next I placed the toasted spices in a spice grinder with the dried rose buds and fenugreek and ground to a powder. The original recipe called for rose hips and I looked all over San Diego for them and my usual go to Middle Eastern market didn’t even have them, but they did carry dried rose buds, so this is what I used instead.

Transfer this to a bowl and with a whisk stir in curry, cinnamon, sumac, ginger, nutmeg, mashed garlic, the juice of one lemon and kosher salt.

Add the chicken halves and press the spice mixture all over the chicken to coat.

Lift the wings up, get under there and rub it in. Get every nook and cranny of that bird! Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Heat your grill to high, and after when its smoking hot scrape your Grill Grates if you use them and lay down the spiced chicken to grill. Charcoal grills are fine as well, same cooking method applies here.

Grill chicken on hottest part of grill, flipping once, until slightly charred and cooked through, about 45 minutes. You can check it with an instant-read thermometer and when inserted into thickest part of thigh it should read 165°. Dave placed these skin side down first for 5 minutes then turned and grilled the remainder of the time.

If outside starts to burn before chicken is cooked, move to cooler side of grill until done. Rest the grilled chicken for 10 minutes.

The aroma that comes off the grill will have all your neighbors popping their heads over the fence wondering what you’re grilling and when do they come over to eat.

The mixture of all the spices became one to me. So different, so delicious in scent and taste. I served this alongside some leftover Cucumber and Apple Salad from the previous night’s meal and it was a perfect companion. You are going to make this one more than once! I know I will.

5.0 from 1 reviews

Iraqi Yellow Spice-Rubbed Chicken (Djaj Bil-Bahar Il-Asfar)

 

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Prep time

8 hours 15 mins

Cook time

45 mins

Total time

9 hours

 

Adapted from a Saveur article.

Author: Kevin

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• 3 tsp coriander seeds
• 3 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 6 cardamom pods
• 6 dried chiles de árbol, stemmed
• 4 whole cloves
• 4 dried rose hips, or rose buds
• 1 tbs. curry powder
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground sumac
• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp allspice
• 1½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 tsp. ground fenugreek
• 8 cloves garlic, mashed into a paste
• 3 lemons
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 2 chicken halves (about 3 lb.)

Instructions

1. Heat the coriander and cumin seeds, peppercorns, cardamom, chiles and cloves in a 10″ skillet over medium heat until seeds pop, 1-2 minutes; let cool. Place in a spice grinder with the dried rose buds and fenugreek and grind. Transfer to a bowl and with a whisk stir in curry, cinnamon, sumac, ginger, nutmeg, mashed garlic, the juice of one lemon and kosher salt.
2. Add the chicken halves and press the spice mixture all over the chicken to coat. Life the wings up, get under there and rub it in. Get every nook and cranny of that bird! Cover and refrigerate overnight.
3. Heat your grill to high. Grill chicken on hottest part of grill, flipping once, until slightly charred and cooked through, about 45 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh reads 165°. If outside starts to burn before chicken is cooked, move to cooler side of grill until done. Rest chicken 10 minutes and then squeeze lemon juice over each grilled chicken before serving.

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