Before I was confident enough to share the best Balochi chicken Sajji with you, I had made it at least 30 times. If you haven’t heard, Sajji is a popular dish from Pakistan’s Balochistan province. It is typically prepared with large chunks of lamb or goat, such as the leg of a goat, or whole chicken or chicken. These whole chickens, lambs, and other meats are skewered, spiced up, and cooked over coals. Sometimes they are even stuffed with rice. It’s like a brown rotisserie chicken in appearance. The inside of the Sajji is juicy and moist, and the outside is crisp!
Even though traditional sajji is cooked over an open fire, you can still make amazing sajji at home! To make it, all you need are an oven, some marinade, and the desire to do so! I’m going to talk about chicken sajji in this post, and I hope to write a post soon about lamb sajji!
How to Prepare Chicken Sajji
Choosing the Best Chicken
The best Balochi Sajji is made with uncut chicken with its skin on. I can’t stress this point enough! My friend, go for it! SKIN UP! It will truly enhance the flavor of a chicken Sajji and make all the difference in the world. And this is why Traditional Balochi Sajji is cooked over an open fire rather than in an oven, like a slow-roasted chicken. The chicken’s juices will stay intact thanks to the skin.
A good sajji has a crispy exterior and soft, juicy meat on the inside, which can only be achieved by leaving the skin on. If you want to use chicken without skin for some dietary reasons, you will need to make cuts along the length of the chicken and on the thighs, just like you would for a Lahori charge. Other than that, you should get the chicken with the skin on if there isn’t a gun pointed at your head (I’ll talk about how to cook both kinds of chicken).
Step 2:
Rinsing the Chicken Thoroughly clean the chicken, making sure to clean the cavity of any blood or other contaminants. To properly clean the cavity, either use your hand or a toothbrush.
You should not skip this step. (While I say this, imagine my wild eyes. Take your time and just do it! The chicken gains moisture and salt from the brine.
I used salt, vinegar, and enough ice-cold water to completely submerge the chicken in this brine. Make sure that the water has dissolved all of your salt. You do not need to add any additional spices at this point because we will add those later.
Why is the chicken being brined?
By bringing it, you can be sure that your chicken will absorb the salt and water from your water bath and become extremely succulent and juicy.
The salt also enhances the flavor of the chicken’s flesh.
When your chicken is slowly roasted in the oven, it keeps from drying out.
This brine’s vinegar gets rid of any lingering blood and smell of raw chicken.
By bringing your chicken with cold water, you can keep the meat intact and stop the spread of bacteria.
How much time should you bring?
For a whole chicken, bringing should take at least 5 hours. For this sajji, the brining time would be 8 to 12 hours for whole chickens less than or equal to 1 kg, and 12 to 18 hours for chickens larger than 1 kg.
Stage 3 – Making the Sajji masala or Zest blend
We will require the aforementioned ingredients for the spice rub. If a packet of Sajji masala is available in your area, you can also use it.
To begin, dry roast the seeds: Carom seeds (ajwain), Cumin seeds (jeera), and coriander seeds (Sabit dhaniya). After that, coarsely grind it.
Then, at that point, blend the wide range of various dry fixings in this seed blend: Cardamom powder (elaichi powder), salt, and black pepper your Sajji masala are as follows: We will marinate with half of this masala and then sprinkle it on top of the cooked chicken with the remaining half.
Make a glue of lemon juice, green chilies, and garlic ginger. After that, add half of your spice mixture to it. The marinade is prepared.
Step 4:
Marinating the chicken Take the chicken out of the refrigerator and drain the brine. Use ice-cold water to clean your chicken from the inside out. Use a paper towel to wipe down your chicken to remove any excess moisture. After that, marinate it in our spice rub. Make sure to get the chicken’s cavity and all of its nooks and crannies.
It doesn’t need to marinate for very long. Only 15 to 20 minutes until the chicken reaches room temperature.
Step 5:
Roasting the chicken You must properly tie your chicken with kitchen thread before roasting it. Trussing your chicken is what this means. A link to a video will demonstrate how to properly truss your chicken. To accomplish this, I used the usual thick embroidery thread. However, you can also thicken regular thread by layering it three to four times with dental floss before using it.
Roasting chicken with skin We will use a slow roast for chicken with skin. For a more uniform color, you can either use a rotisserie rod to secure your chicken. Or you can bake it on a baking sheet. In either case, keep your oven at about 160 degrees Celsius (320 degrees Fahrenheit). Your chicken will cook for roughly 40 to 50 minutes.
If baking on a tray, flip the chicken halfway through the cooking time. There is no need to grease the pan or cover the chicken. If you decide to make the Sajji with your rotisserie, place a pan or tray underneath the chicken to catch any juices that may drip from it.
It can even be air-fried.
Roasting chicken without the skin To roast chicken without the skin, place the chicken on an oil-greased baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes at 200 C (400 F) with foil covering the tray. Remove the chicken from the oven, remove the foil, and brush it with butter or ghee. Return the chicken to the oven, add the top grill to get some color, and bake for an additional ten minutes.
How can you tell if the chicken has been properly cooked?
Inserting a cooking thermometer into the chicken’s thigh is the best method for determining its doneness. The temperature ought to peruse anyplace between 165-170 F or 75 C. In the event that you don’t have a thermometer, you can pierce the chicken between the thigh and body, and a reasonable juice ought to overflow out from the body.
Serves Sajji!
Before slicing open your chicken, let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Before serving, add more sajji masala and some lemon juice. And get going! Some individuals enjoy Sajji with a good rice pulav, while others, like me, enjoy it with roti and palak raita (spinach yogurt).and, of course, lemon-dipped sliced onions.
