Chicken Yassa

Cut the chicken into pieces and remove excess pockets of fat and skin.

Squeeze the juice from 2 of the lemons into a bowl or platter just big enough to hold all of the pieces of chicken comfortably. Add 1 teaspoon of vinegar. Push the chicken pieces into the lemon juice/vinegar marinade and allow to marinate at least half a day, if not all night.

Peel and slice 1 kilo (around 2.5 pounds) of onions. Try and avoid cursing the entire time you slice onions, as I unfortunately did. Peel and mince or crush the cloves of garlic.

(At this point, my husband walked into the kitchen after listening to me curse and scream at my dull knife and not-the-freshest onions for 15 minutes and he said “I thought cooking was supposed to be a pleasure!”)

Heat a large pot or Dutch oven. Heat either a tablespoon of margarine or vegetable oil, if needed, and brown the chicken in 2 batches, making sure not to overcrowd the pot. Once all the pieces are browned all over, maybe 5 – 10 minutes each batch, remove them to a plate.

Heat 4 tablespoons vegetable oil in the same pot and add the sliced onions, stirring almost constantly, or at least to make sure they are moving so they all cook evenly and the bottom slices don’t burn. Cook the onions several minutes until tender and translucent.

Once the onions are soft, translucent and just beginning to turn golden, add the minced garlic, the mustard and the vinegar. Salt and pepper generously.

Continue stirring as you let the onions continue cooking for 2 minutes. Now add a small glass of water, stir and allow to simmer for just a minute or 2 until the sauce thickens.

Add the browned chicken pieces to the onions and, stirring, cook for 2 minutes.

Add another small glass of water (I brought the level of water just up to barely cover the chicken) and the olives. Bring back up to the simmer and, over medium heat, cook for 20 – 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened.

Add the juice from the last lemon, stir into the sauce and remove from the heat.

This dish can then sit until ready to make your rice, because it is served with rice. Reheat gently as your rice cooks, checking for seasoning (salt, pepper and lemon). Serve over white rice.

This is one of those dishes that improves with time! Don’t hesitate to make extra to reheat the second, or even third, day!