Rest – Transfer the cooked chicken onto a plate and after the second batch is cooked, let it rest for 2 minutes. This resting time allows the juices to settle back into the chicken fibres so you get really juicy chicken flesh inside. You will be surprised. I was!
Lemon garlic sauce – This is as easy as mixing the ingredients together, setting aside for at least an hour to let the garlic flavour meld, then heating the sauce gently only to warm in the microwave.
However, because the ingredients in the sauce are the same as the chicken marinade, it’s quite handy to just mix it up at the same time as the marinade then just refrigerate it until required.
Plating up – Al Aseel style! Pour half the yogurt sauce into a shallow bowl or a plate. Then transfer the chicken onto the sauce using a spatula or spoon – don’t pour it them off the plate as the resting juices on the plate tarnish your sparkling white sauce.
Garnish – Top with remaining yogurt sauce, drizzle with olive oil and finish with a pinch of parsley. Then serve!
Lebanese Lemon Garlic Chicken – Al Aseel copycat
How to serve Al Aseel’s Lebanese Lemon Garlic Chicken
For me, Lebanese bread for sauce mopping is a must, plus then you also have the option to make wraps stuffed with the tasty chicken pieces smothered in the lemon garlic sauce. Rice is also a good option. Basmati would be my pick though any plain rice would work (there’s certainly plenty of sauce for rice soaking).
If you’re after something more adventurous on the rice front, try Mejadra (Middle Eastern spiced lentil rice), Garlic rice or Rice Pilaf with Nuts and Dried Fruit.
Lebanese Lemon Garlic Chicken – Al Aseel copycat
Lebanese Lemon Garlic Chicken – Al Aseel copycat
Add a perky fresh salad on the side (try Lebanese Fattoush or this Ottolenghi one, sometimes I skip the chickpeas), and a fabulous Lebanese feast at home is totally within reach even on a midweek! And if there are any die-hard Al Aseel fans reading this, I’d love to know how you think my version stacks up.
