Jerk can refer to two things; a spice used in Jamaican cooking, and a
style of Jamaican cooking itself. It's a method of cooking meats such as
chicken, pork, beef and even goat. Jerk cooking creates a very spicy
food, usually with a lot of heat from peppers such as the Scotch Bonet.
Jerk is usually prepared on a barbeque or a smoker, but this is the
convenient in-house method good for cold weather or those without
grills.
This steamed Jerk Chicken recipe calls for marinating the chicken for a
few hours to overnight, but you really don't have to do it that way. It
just makes the food more flavorful.
Food Steamer Jerk Chicken and Pepper Sauce
Ingredients:
4 medium to large boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 jalapeno peppers or 1 Scotch Bonnet pepper or 1 Habaneros
pepper (each gets progressively hotter)
2 teaspoons of finely chopped onion
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground Jamaica pepper (allspice)
Procedure:
Clean out the seeds and the veins and slice the pepper. Finely chop
the onion and the thyme. Peel and chop the 3 cloves of garlic. Rinse and
slice the chicken into small strips; about 1 to 2 inches.
Combine the sliced pepper, the chopped onion, the chopped thyme, the
chopped garlic, the soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, the red wine
vinegar, the brown sugar, and the Jamaica pepper. Place the ingredients
into a blender or food processor and blend until they are blended well
and smooth.
Put the sliced chicken breasts into a large steam bag. You can get a
good steam bag from Ziploc. Pour into the bag 3/4 of the pepper sauce
and seal the bag. Make sure you press out all the air you can from the
bag when you are sealing it. Set the other portion of the sauce aside to
be poured on the chicken after it is cooked.
To get the most flavor out of the Jerk Chicken, put the steamer back in
the refrigerator for several hours or even overnight. This will allow
the flavors to really penetrate the chicken.
When you are ready to cook your meal, place the steam bag on a rack in a
food steamer or a covered pot with a couple of inches of boiling water.
Steam the contents of the bag for around 12 to 15 minutes. After 6 or 7
minutes, use some pot holders or gloves to pick up the bag and shake the
ingredients in the bag around to make sure you everything is evenly
coated and cooks uniformly.
During the last few minutes of cooking you can heat the other 1/4 of the
sauce that you set aside. When it's time to serve the Jerk Chicken, pour
some of the sauce over all of the pieces. You can do it all at once or
set a bowl on the table for the diners to spoon out as they wish. It's
good eatin', yah, mahn.
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titiek
Posted 27 days ago
Oh I have had it in 1990 in Jamaica, I really would love this food now. Thank you for the recipes. Best Regards, Titiek / Indonesian
Kenny Walpole C.E.C
Posted 37 days ago
Microwaves create heat up to 1000 degrees. Steam usually comes at a boiling point thus not purging all of the nutirents. The bag just helps the flavors sty in..
Richee
Posted 48 days ago
Steaming food in a steamer will always taste better than steaming in a microwave. Personally, there is something not quite right about microwaved food...
Gretchen
Posted 48 days ago
Why go to all the trouble to set up the steamer while using a steam bag? What would be the difference between cooking in the steam bag, using a microwave, vs using the steam bag in a steamer? Thanks!
Thank you for the recipes.
Best Regards,
Titiek / Indonesian
Thanks!