Marinating Chicken Ingredients Time Temperature Re-using Recipes

In Indian cooking, yogurt based marinate is used to make Chicken juicy , flavorful, and tender before actual cooking to make the dish

Why to marinate Chicken

1. The salt in the marinate helps the meat to absorb the liquids from the marinate. It makes the chicken juicy and flavorful

2. The connective tissue is gelatinized. In other words, marinate helps to tenderize chicken

Ingredients

The ingredients in Indian chicken marinate can be classified in to two categories, primary and secondary ingredients

Primary Ingredients

There are six primary ingredients. These ingredients for one found of chicken are as follows

1. Yogurt (Whole milk Yogurt with live culture): ¾ cup

The most important ingredient of this marinate is Dahi (Yogurt). It is uncanny that two separate cultures oceans apart use fermented milk to marinate chicken. In United States, the Southern Fried Chicken is marinated in buttermilk overnight before frying.

2. Salt: 1½ teaspoon

Salt helps chicken to absorb the fluids from marinate, making it juicy and flavorful. Salt also helps to gelatinize the connective tissue. Amount of salt depends on the length of time the chicken will be marinated

Twenty minutes to one hour: 1½ teaspoon

Two to four hours: ¾ teaspoon

4 hours to 12 hours: ½ teaspoon

3. Lime juice: 2 teaspoons

Acids such as Lime Juice, Vinegar, Wine may be added to gelatinize the connective tissue. You can also add other souring agents such as Tamarind, Amchoor, Sumac.

4. Fresh minced ginger: 1½ teaspoon

Fresh ginger has enzymes that add flavor and help gelatinize the connective tissue

5. Vegetable oil: ½ teaspoon

You can choose any oil such as peanut, mustard, canola, olive oil. You can even use Ghee

6. Brown Sugar: ¼ teaspoon

This is an optional primary ingredients to balance out the sourness of acids.

Secondary Ingredients

These depend on the target recipe.

Aromatic Spices: Cumin powder, Coriander powder, Cinnamon, Cloves may be added for curry

Coloring Agents: Degi Mirch, Turmeric, Ratan Jot, Maval petals, Red Food Color, Yellow Food Color, Turmeric, Saffron

Fresh herbs: Onions, Garlic, Serrano

Time and Temperature for Marinating

Chicken should always be marinated in refrigerator, unless the time to marinate is less than 30 minutes.

Time to marinate depends on the connective tissues in the meat. In order of high to low connective tissue the meat follows

Meats with skin

Meat with bone

Dark Meat

Skinless boneless Chicken breast

Skinless boneless chicken takes the smallest time to marinate, any chicken with skin and bone takes the longest

Re-using Marinate

1. In India, it was a common practice to save the marinate liquid after the chicken was done marinating. During Cooking process, the marinate was added back in adding to the gravy. The marinate was cooked so that there was no unwanted bacteria.

2. In United States the health department recommends to discard the marinate for food safety.

3. Never re-use marinate for the next batch of chicken. It only multiplies the growth of harmful bacteria.

Recipes

Chicken Marinate in Hurry describes a marinate for chicken breast in about 20 minutes

Tandoori Marinate requires a marinate for 4 hours to overnight, to make red colored Tandoori Chicken or Tandoori Prawns

General Purpose marinate

Ingredients

1. Chopped onions: ¼ cup

2. Garlic crushed: 2 Cloves

3. Ginger Chopped: ¼ Inch

4. Salt: ½ teaspoon

5. Fresh lime juice: ½ teaspoon

6. Dahi Yogurt: 1 cup

7. Cayenne pepper powder: ¼ teaspoon

8. Cumin Powder: ½ teaspoon

9. Coriander powder: ½ teaspoon

10. Ground Cinnamon: ¼ teaspoon

11. Ground Cloves: ¼ teaspoon

12. Skinless Cut up Chicken: 1 Pound

Method

1. Put all the ingredients in a food processor. Process in continuous mode to make a smooth paste.

2. Rub the paste on the chicken.

3. Put Chicken and paste in a glass, plastic, or stainless steel bowl. Cover.

4. Marinate in refrigerator from 2 hours to overnight.

For skinless boneless chicken breast, 2 hours is sufficient.