How to Make Sebzeli Tavuk

Welcome back. Now, it’s time to make our delicious vegetable chicken. Chicken is becoming really popular in Turkey. It’s known fro being high in protein and a delicious lean meat. So for this, I've chosen a whole chicken which I cleaned and cut up into pieces but if you don’t want to use the whole chicken, you can use chicken legs or some people love the wings or if you’re prone to chicken breasts, you do that as well. Any type of chicken is fine. I cleaned it and chopped it up into our baking dish.

And now I'm going to make our marinade. Now for our marinade, you will need 2/3 cup of oil, sun flower or corn oil, a little bit of cumin, one teaspoon of paprika, a tablespoon of tomato paste, three cloves of garlics crushed and of course salt and pepper to taste.

So now, I'm going to make my marinade. What I like to do is I like to make the marinade in a separate bowl and then rub it all on. Some people like to do everything on top pouring one by one but I feel that this gets spreads out much more evenly. So, I have my oil here and I'm just going to start putting in my seasoning. Now, cumin has a very strong taste so you do not need too much, just a little pinch. It’s a really delicious spice. It’s used a lot in Indian food and in Turkish cooking as well. And just a little bit is needed. Now, I'm going to take my paprika, a very light teaspoon, put it in there as well. Take our tomato paste because the tomato paste gives it really nice moisture and now our garlic. I like to use crushed garlic because you could definitely rub it in the chicken much better. Just oil that garlic, it’s like four cloves, of course this is garlic to taste. If you don’t like too much garlic, you could do it little less and the salt and our pepper. Now, I like to mix it all up. And then I'm going to rub this over our chicken and really rub it in there.

Now, as you could see I have left this skin on. I feel that when you leave the skin on when baking chicken it really keeps in the moisture, keeps it from drying out. And you could always take the skin off later. So, as you could see in my mixture, now I'm going to use my hands and really just pour it over and really rub it in there. And then you’re going to bake this for about 20 minutes. But before you bake it, make sure you wrap it with a little aluminum foil. This keeps the outer edges from drying out. So now, it looks good. We’re going to just wrap it up with the thin foil and make sure your oven is preheating to 350 degrees. So now, I'm going to put this in the oven for 20 minutes and when we come back here, we’re going to start arranging our delicious array of vegetables.

Okay, so after it’s been cooking for about 20 minutes, you want to check and see if it’s turning a nice golden brown so let’s lift up our foil. Now, the foil allows it not to burn so that’s why I feel the foil is very important. So, it’s starting to cook but as you could see, it still needs a lot of cooking so now, it’s time to add in our vegetables.

Now here is when you could do anything you want. You can do without the piece or with extra piece. The point is to get a really pretty color so I like to use red and green peppers. I have used the red peppers and then the green Italian peppers. But you can use the green bell peppers as well. And I am using five different tomatoes sliced not chopped. The reason I like to use five is because it blends in with the marinade and makes a really delicious tomato sauce. This also allows the chicken to keep from drying out. So here is where you could be creative. Just put all the vegetables that you like and omit the ones you dislike. But remember this is going to cook for at least another 40 minutes to an hour. And keep checking it. If you see it needs to be cooked more, then use your judgment. Keep eyeballing it. Every oven is different and has different variations.

Now, I'm going to put in our potatoes. As you could see I've cubed them and I've put them in water so it doesn’t turn brown. And you could see the abundance of vegetables that I am using. It really gives it a really nice color and you just want to leave it on top and then you’re going to cover it and put it back. So now, we’re going to put in the oven and let it cook for 40 minutes to an hour.

So now, it seems like our vegetable chicken is done. You can even smell the aroma of the peppers and the tomatoes coming up from underneath the aluminum. So, let us see. Now, you want to make sure that everything is well done and well cooked. As you could see, the beautiful arrangement of colors, the peppers and the carrots and the peas, it’s just wonderful. It smells great. We’re just going to take it. Be careful because it is very hot. take it and just place it on our serving platter. We could place the chicken on it first and then with the spoon I like to pour the vegetables on top. I just find that’s easier. Now, with this for me, I don’t think you need a garnish because it has such a beautiful array of colors that it just makes the perfect evening to a wonderful meal. And this also goes great with our rice that we’re going to make next, our delicious Pilav with Orzo. It’s just the perfect compliment. Do you see how I'm just spooning it over? It’s really hot. It looks good, smells good, I can’t wait to try it.