Volcano chicken

Here is a second recipe with chicken, and I hope that we will not get too much flamemail from vegetarians and people worried about dioxins.
This is a dish that does wonders to your tastebuds as the dried tomatoes give their umami to the chicken and the olive oil gets loaded with all the aromatic spices.
It is very nice to slow-cook a few vegetables (peppers, onions, garlic cloves with the skin, green chilli peppers) either together with the chicken or roasted in an oven. Serve everything with basmati rice or roasted potatoes, and sprinkle some crushed dried chillies and coarse salt on the chicken.


Ingredients :

• Big pieces of chicken with skin (legs and wings for instance)
• Dried tomatoes
• Green olives (whole and without kernels if possible)
• Olive oil
• Onion
• Garlic
• Tomato paste (or a ripe tomatoes chopped finely)
• Aromatic spices or herbs (my pick : 3 whole cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks and 2 bay leaves and/or some thyme)
• Turmeric powder
• Black pepper
• Dried chili peppers or chili powder if desired
• Limon juice
• Sugar

Instructions :

1. Wash and dry the chicken pieces. Place them in a very large bowl and rub them with salt, chillies, sugar and some pieces of uncooked onion and garlic. Add some olive oil and a lot of lemon juice, and let marinate for as long as possible in the fridge. It is a good idea to stir with your hands every now and then.
2. Cut an onions in large slices, and chop very roughly four or five garlic cloves.
3. Heat violently a wok or a large pot, and place in it the chicken pieces. Quickly (before it burns !) add all the whole (unpowdered) spices you had selected together with the onions. Stir continuously until the skin of the chicken gets colored ; then lower the fire to a moderate heat and add the garlic and a small spoon of tomato paste (or the chopped tomato). Keep on stirring continuously until the tomato has blended into the oil.
4. Add the olives, the black pepper, the rest of the spices including the tip of a spoon of turmeric (don't add too much, it would ruin the taste !), sugar and some salt.
5. Add small quantity of water (less than half a glass), turn the fire to a minimum, and cover almost completely keeping only a small opening for the water to evaporate slowly.
6. Cook for at least an hour, checking regularly if the chicken is done. Add some more water if the cooking is not complete and all the water has evaporated.
7. You can turn of the fire and cover completely when cooking is complete and an oily sauce with very little liquid is left. The chicken can then wait for some time while the guests are done eating the starters or while the rice finishes cooking.

Oh, and here's a tip for you wine lovers : serve with a slightly coarse red wine from south-west France or South America (try the Casa Mayor from Argentina, it is a must), that will send all the spices flying around your head !