Lemon Cilantro (or Coriander) Chicken

Fresh lemon juice, aromatic spices and herbs add so much flavor to this succulent chicken dish. Easy and delicious option for a weeknight family meal!

What a disaster! No, not this recipe, thankfully, but the fact that I lost the video for this recipe. It is frustrating as I really worked hard to make a video for this and even missed an appointment to finish it on time and then in the twinkle of an eye, it was gone....all gone.

Ok, so perhaps I am being a little bit melodramatic here. I know it's not the end of the world and I am still relatively healthy and alive and free, so certainly there are more important things in life that I can be truly grateful for but, admittedly, for a few moments (fine, more than an hour) these thoughts didn't help alleviate my frustration.

I know I only have myself to blame for not checking whether or not my album actually could upload the videos and not just the pictures from my SD card before I deleted them all. After desperately downloading software to help me recover the movie files and spending over an hour to figure them all out - alas, nothing happened and whatever files I recovered none of them were deemed readable by the video apps I have available.....sigh. Thankfully, the pictures were still available so I could still make this post. My dear readers you may just have to wait a bit until I get the chance to videotape this again....at least, I tried! :)

Going back to the dish, since I usually just try to experiment on combination of spices and as to how much to add in - I was initially unsure if the flavor would be balanced OR if it would work at all. I thought, well, there's fresh ginger and garlic and cilantro (otherwise known as fresh coriander in England and beyond...), so there's a chance it may taste good. Hubby had second servings and I didn't receive complaints from the kids so I consider that a success! Woohoo! Certainly, feel free to tweak the amount of spices to your liking and let the recipe serve as your guide. Below you will find the main ingredients for this very tasty dish. And, please don't forget to serve this with your favorite Asian rice! There is some sauce (yup, under all that chicken) and you definitely need to drizzle that over the rice! Enjoy!

Lemon Cilantro (Coriander) Chicken

By: Manila Spoon
Published: 05/19/2016

Fresh lemon juice, aromatic spices and herbs add so much flavor to this succulent chicken dish. Easy and delicious option for a weeknight family meal!

Ingredients

• 3 lbs chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
• 1/4 cup Olive oil
• 1 (3-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 6 Garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons Chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground Coriander
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground Turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground Cumin
• Salt and ground Pepper, to taste
• Grated peel and juice of 1 large Lemon (get the biggest lemon!)
• 1/2 cup Water or as needed
• 1/2 cup fresh Cilantro, chopped (plus more for garnish)
• Extra Lemon slices, for garnish
• 2 Bay leaves

Instructions

1. Heat the oil to medium, in a Dutch oven or a heavy-bottomed pan with a lid, Fry the chicken pieces in batches until they are nicely browned all over. You may need to turn the chicken pieces a few times over to do this. Set aside.
2. Lower the heat. In the same pan, quickly stir-fry the garlic and freshly grated ginger until aromatic about a minute or less. Stir in the rest of the spices (chili powder, ground coriander, turmeric and cumin) and the salt and pepper and cook for another minute.
3. Return the chicken pieces and stir to coat with the spices. Pour in the water and lemon juice and insert the bay leaves. Bring to a boil, cover and continue to cook on low to medium heat for about 25-30 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Stir in the chopped fresh cilantro. Serve immediately with rice and some green veggies. Garnish with extra chopped cilantro and lemon slices.

Yield: 6 Servings
Prep Time: 00 hrs. 10 mins.

Cook time: 00 hrs. 35 mins.
Total time: 45 mins.
Tags: Asian, Chicken, Cilantro, Dinner, easy, Gluten-free, herbs, Lemon, Low-Carb, poultry