Recipes / Chicken
Braaied chicken breasts with monkey gland baste
Flattened chicken breasts cooked over medium coals and basted with South Africa's sweet and tangy chutney, tomato and Worcestershire sauce.
- Prep
- 15 min
- On the fire
- 45 min
- Serves
- 4
- Done at
- 165°F (74°C)
Ingredients
Chicken
Monkey gland baste
Method
Cooking on gas?
- Preheat with the burners on high and the lid closed for 10 minutes, then turn them down to medium so the lid thermometer settles at 175 to 200°C (350 to 400°F). Brush the grates clean and oil them.
- Close the lid between turns. It cooks a little faster than an open braai, so start checking about 5 minutes early.
- Keep one burner off or on low as a cooler zone. If fat flares up, move the food there. Never use water on a gas grill flare-up.
- For a smoky taste, put a handful of wood chips in a smoker box, or a foil parcel pierced with a few holes, over a lit burner while the grill preheats.
- Heat the oil in a small pot and cook the onion for 5 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute.
- Add the tomatoes, chutney, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, vinegar and hot sauce. Simmer gently for 25 minutes, stirring often, until it is thick enough to coat a spoon.
- Pour half the sauce into a bowl for basting and keep the rest warm at the edge of the fire to serve at the table.
- Lay each breast between two sheets of baking paper and pound the thick end with a rolling pin until it is an even 2 cm (3/4 inch) thick.
- Rub the breasts with the oil, then season with the salt, pepper and paprika.
- Cook over medium coals for 5 minutes a side without moving them, so they get good grid marks.
- Brush the top with baste, turn, and brush the other side. Keep turning and basting every 2 minutes for another 4 to 6 minutes. Move them to a cooler part of the grid if the sugar starts to blacken.
- Rest the chicken for 5 minutes, then slice and serve with the warm sauce.
Done when: the chicken is firm, glossy and lightly charred at the edges, and a thermometer in the thickest part reads 74°C (165°F).
Tips
- Pounding the breasts flat is what keeps them juicy. A thick end and a thin end cannot both be cooked right.
- Only baste in the last few minutes. The sauce has sugar and chutney in it and burns if it goes on at the start.
- The sauce keeps in a jar in the fridge for a week. Brush it on pork chops or burgers too.
Monkey gland sauce has no monkey in it. It is a mix of chutney, tomato, Worcestershire sauce and vinegar that South African steakhouses have poured over steak and burgers for decades, and the odd name is part of its charm. It also makes a sticky baste for lean chicken breasts, which need a little help to stay moist on the grid. For the classic pairing, see the rump steak with monkey gland sauce.
Source
Adapted from How to make juicy traditional South African monkey gland sauce at Briefly News.