Rose Harissa Chicken Drumsticks

Harissa is an ingredient that is often used in Middle Eastern and North African cuisine, particularly in meat and couscous dishes. If you like your food spicy then this is something that you will definitely love. I learnt about Rose Harissa from Ottolenghi’s Simple, it’s another variation of this chilli paste. I personally prefer Rose Harissa because it has a subtle hint of floral flavours from the dried rose petals, that somehow balances the spicy and smoky kick that you get from the hot chilli paste.

In the past few years the supermarkets in the UK have been stocking up on world foods quite a lot. And rose Harissa is one of the ingredients that is easily available. However, there’s something about making your own and I’ve been making Rose Harrisa from scratch for a while now, which turns out tastier and you can adjust the spice level to suit your taste buds.

So, I decided to use this lovely marinade to make tender and juicy fried drumsticks that couldn’t be a tastier weeknight dinner. It’s got the perfect kick of heat and a subtle smoky flavour in every bite.

Rose Harissa Chicken Drumsticks

July 1, 2020

Servings: 7

Prep: 45 min

Cook: 22 min

Total: 1 hr 7 min

Difficulty: Easy

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By: Sonika

Ingredients

• 7 Chicken drumsticks
• 1 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp Paprika
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup Veg/ Sunflower oil
• For rose harrisa:
• 15-20 Red chillies
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 tbsp Rose petals
• 1 tsp Coriander seeds
• 1 Star anise
• 1/2 tsp caraway seeds
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 tsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Tomato puree
• 2 tsp Lemon juice
• 1 tsp Rose water
• 1 1/2 tbsp Olive oil

Directions

• Step 1 To make rose harissa: Roast the chillies in a pan or in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 C, until they get roasted well.
• Step 2 Let it cool down for a bit. Meanwhile, toast the coriander seeds, caraway seeds and cumin seeds in a pan on low heat for 2 minutes.
• Step 3 Grind all the ingredients including the roasted chillies to a coarse paste. Store in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 2-3 weeks. To make classic harissa, just omit the rose petals and rose water.
• Step 4 To make the drumsticks: In a bowl, mix together rose harissa, ginger-garlic paste, salt and paprika. Marinate the chicken drumsticks in this mixture. Set it aside for 30 minutes.
• Step 5 Heat oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Gently place in the marinated chicken. Shallow fry them on each side for 6-7 minutes. To serve, squeeze over some lemon juice and garnish with chillies and coriander.