Three easy chicken recipes you can prepare in an hour

There’s no doubt that Nigerians love their chicken. Many Nigerian know chicken to be largely divided into two groups. There’s the “Agric Chicken” and the “Normal Chicken”.

Agric Chicken grow bigger and are cheaper, while Normal Chicken grows slowly and sturdier and are known to be sweeter. Whichever one you choose to go with, there are easy chicken recipes you could prepare to your taste.

Three easy chicken recipes

Chicken is versatile and can be used in many forms. Below are three Nigerian easy chicken recipes in less than an hour.

1. Chicken pepper soup

Most Nigerians normally go to bars or joints to enjoy their chicken pepper soup. But you can easily prepare it yourself at home. Here is the recipe for chicken pepper soup.

Ingredients

• 1kg Chicken
• 4 seeds Ehu or Ariwo or Calabash Nutmeg (grind with a coffee grinder)
• Chilli pepper (to taste)
• 2 teaspoons crushed Dry Uziza (optional)
• 2 medium onions
• Salt (to taste)
• 3 stock cubes
• 1 teaspoon of thyme (for chicken pepper soup)

    Method of preparation

• Wash the chicken and set aside
• Roast the ehu seeds in a frying pan until you can smell it. Take down when the membrane goes off. Peel off the membrane and grind with a grind mill.
• Cut the onions and rub the uziza seeds with your fingers to break them into pieces.
• Pour the pieces of chicken in a pot and put enough water to cover the contents of the pot. Then add the stock cubes, thyme and onions and cook till done.
• When the water dries up a bit add more so that it covers the pot’s content again.
• Now add the Ehu, dry uziza, chilli pepper and salt to taste. Add chilli pepper carefully. You don’t want it to be too spicy since Ehu has some spicy taste.
• Boil for five minutes and chicken pepper soup is ready.

2. Peppered Chicken

Peppered chicken is great for your party menu. Below is the recipe for peppered chicken.

Ingredients

• 1.2kg chicken
• 2 tatashe peppers
• 1-2 Scotch bonnet peppers or habanero peppers
• 2 onions
• 1 cooking spoon vegetable oil
• 6 small stock cubes
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• Salt (to taste)

Method of preparation

• Cut one of the onions into tiny pieces and cut the other into thin slices
• Strip the tatase of the seeds and then blend. The blending should not be smooth.
• Cut chicken into desired sizes and place into a bowl. Add thyme, diced onions and stock cubes. Massage the spices with your hands, cover and then put in a refrigerator. Leave to marinate for one hour.
• When the chicken has marinated, pour some water and start cooking.
• When the chicken is done, take them out and grill/broil in the oven at 180°C till golden all over.
• Pour the vegetable oil in a dry pot and heat it.
• Add the pepper blend and start frying on low to medium heat till all the water dries up.
• Add the grilled/broiled peppered chicken and stir very well with a spatula till the popping red peppers have coated every inch of the chicken.

3. Chicken soup

Chicken soup can be prepared in less than fifty minutes. Below is a simple chicken soup recipe.

     Ingredients

• Carcass and bones from one 4- to 5-pound roast chicken.
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 medium carrots (sliced into 1/4-inch-thick rounds)
• 2 celery stalks (sliced into 1/4-inch-thick slices)
• 1 medium onion (chopped)
• 1 bay leaf
• ½  cup white rice
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• Salt

   Method of preparation

• Pour the bones and carcass in a large pot. Cover with the broth and four cups water. Boil over with medium-high heat, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Skim any foam or fat from the broth.
• Pick out the bones and carcass, then add carrots, onions, celery and bay leaf to the broth. Cook for about ten minutes until the vegetables are half cooked. Stir in the rice but do not let it stick to the bottom. Cook again for ten to twelve minutes.
• The bones and carcass will be cold by now. Pick off the meat and shred into pieces.
• Add meat to the broth when the rice is done, then simmer for one minute. Stir in parsley and add salt to taste.

There are numerous chicken recipes to try out. Chicken is so versatile. It can be served at almost every gathering in Nigeria. Just try to take into consideration the kind of group you’re hosting so you don’t make it too spicy.

This article was first published on AfricaParent.com