Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Ingredients

For 1	Continued...
1 tbspn oil (1)	1 tbspn oil (2)
25 ml Jamaican Jerk spice mix (see note 3)	1 chicken breast
1 tbspn wine vinegar

Preparation

Mix the Jamaican jerk spice mix with 1 tbspn of wine vinegar and 1 tbspn of oil (1) to make a paste.
Butterfly the chicken breast (see note 2).
Put the chicken on a plate, cover one side of the chicken with half of the Jamaican jerk paste, turn the chicken over and cover with the remaining paste and set aside to marinate for 20 min to 2 hours (best kept covered and refrigerated).
After marinating, scrape the Jamaican jerk paste from the chicken breast and reserve the paste.
Mix the 'reserved' Jamaican jerk paste with some oil and about 1 tbspn of water and mix well to make a thin sauce.

Cooking

Heat the oil (2) in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the chicken breast on one side for 5 min.
Turn the chicken breast over and fry this side for 4 min (see note 1).
Remove the pan from the heat and cut the chicken in half at its thickest part and ensure that it is white throughout.
Remove the chicken from the pan onto a clean plate and set aside.
Replace the pan over the heat and add the thinned Jamaican jerk sauce (remember that this has been in contact with uncooked chicken).
Cook this, adding a little hot water if you think it is needed, until it thickens slightly and then return the chicken to the pan and spoon the sauce over the chicken and cook for another minute or until the sauce thickens to your preference.

Serving

Remove the chicken pieces from the pan onto the serving plate and spoon over the sauce from the pan.
This is traditionally served with 'Jamaican rice and peas' but this may not suit European tastes, so by all means use chips (or rice) and green peas.

Notes

(1) The exact timing at stage 1 and especially stage 2 will depend on the level of heat, type of pan and thickness of the chicken breast. The important thing is to ensure the chicken is thoroughly cooked - white throughout.
(2) To 'butterfly' a chicken breast a cut is made lengthways to about half the thickness and then a cut is made to the side to make a 'flap' which can then be folded open. This is then repeated for the other side. This makes the chicken thinner and easier to cook evenly.
(3) Jamaican jerk spice can be purchased from many supermarkets, but the quantity required may need some experimentation.
(4) See here for an alternative version.

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