Jerk-ing around

Tonight Boy & Schwester went all Carribean cooking jerk chicken, sweet potatoes, okra and mango salsa. Mother had bought us a Scotch Bonnet chilli at her local farmer's market and it was an easy step to jerk chicken from there.

For the jerk chicken we used a recipe on Diana's Kitchen website that was from 'The Sugar Reef Carribean Cookbook' by Devra Dedeaux. A lot of spices went into the marinade and there were a few quite unusual ingredients such as soya sauce but it turned out wonderfully.

It was very quick to mix up and the chicken thighs we used (we tend to prefer them to chicken breast in most dishes) came out really well. Being September and living in a flat it was impossible to barbecue them so we just blackened them under the grill which worked out fine.

The Scotch Bonnet added a really unusual spiciness. Boy tried it raw (he's braver than I am) and reported that it does live up to it's reputation as being very hot. In the dish though, it came out perfectly. They are more warm than spicy. It's very different to eating a hot curry. The warmth in your mouth is further forward, on the tip of the tongue rather than scorching down one's throat.

The mango salsa we made was just an amalgmation of various recipe suggestions online. We used one large ripe mango, three spring onions, half a bunch of corriander and mint and the juice of one lime. Yummy stuff!

Sorry it's a fuzzy picture!

All in all, we were very impressed with jerk chicken. Schwester's planning to try the jerk chicken restaurants on Wardour Street in the near future. Amy Winehouse was spotted eating at one once which given she clearly doesn't eat must be a good sign! She'll let you know if it compares well to their own offerings.