Chicken in Yogurt – Kotopoulo Giaourtava

Chicken in Yogurt – Kotopoulo Giaourtava

Until I got my hands on the “Phadion” guide to Greek Cooking – Vefa’s Kitchen, for me Greek Chicken meant Chicken Souvolaki. Turning the page after page, I discovered the variety of chicken preparations. This recipe caught my eye, and I had to try it out. An unusual combination of yogurt, egg and cheese caught my fancy. However, strange it may sound to some of us, the alchemy of simple ingredients, delivers one of the most mouth melting chicken dishes I have ever had!

 

This recipe is a modified version of the one in the book replacing some ingredients based on availability and taste. Greeks are known to use herbs and spices judiciously not like us Indians more the masala tastier the dish! Well, I did throw in some chilli flakes as I thought it needed that zing ..!

 

Ingredients

 

550g skinless boneless chicken breast/ thigh

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1¼ cup strained or thick Greek yogurt (chakka dahi)

¼ cup processed cheese

¼ cup parmesan cheese

3 tbsp finely chopped mint

½ tsp pepper powder

Marinade

1 tsp garlic paste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt to taste

Method

Marinating

Mix the ingredients of the marinade and the chicken. Let it marinate for about an hour.

Cooking the Chicken

·         In a pan take 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil now add the onions. Sauté till they change colour to light brown.

·         Add the chicken and cook over medium heat stirring occasionally till it’s changed colour and you can see a few pieces start to turn very light brown. This will take about 5-6 minutes. Don’t over cook the chicken at this stage; it will tend to get rubbery.

·         Take off the fire, mix in processed cheese, parmesan cheese, mint, pepper and adjust salt. Don’t worry if the meat has left a little water.  Transfer to a baking dish.

·         Pre-heat oven to 200F

·         In a bowl break the eggs and mildly beat them. Now slowly whisk in the strained yogurt. Cover the chicken with this sauce.

·         Put the chicken to bake for about 15-20 min. Once done the chicken will have a light yellow custard glaze, like in the picture below. If you prefer you could leave it on a little more till it browns on the top.

 

Post Script

I keep experimenting with the recipes. I was determined I had to cook it yesterday with whatever I had in the fridge. The original recipe called for Gruyere Cheese –it’s a Swiss cheese used for baking. Still perplexed about with its inclusion in this recipe though! In the absence of this I just used the good old Amul processed cheese. Additionally the recipe called for way too much cheese I have reduced the quantity more than 70%. I can only imagine how heavy it would have been! Also I love garlic and chilli flakes, so added some to add the zing!

This post is 2^nd of the 3 posts documenting out the meal I put together yesterday for dinner.