Poulet Yassa (Ivory Coast's Charred Lemon-Onion Chicken) 🍽

Name: Poulet Yassa (Ivory Coast's Charred Lemon-Onion Chicken)
Prep time: 24 min
Cook time: 36 min
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 2-4 servings
Cuisine: Ivorian
Ingredients: 1 whole chicken (1.3–1.6 kg), back cut, butterflied flat; 3 large onions (400–500 g), sliced thin — the ratio matters: onion blanket, not garnish; Juice of 2–3 lemons (about 100 ml); 4 garlic cloves mashed + 1 tbsp Dijon or hot mustard; 2 tbsp red palm oil (or peanut oil + 1 tsp paprika for the color); 1 tsp bouillon powder or salt to strong taste; black pepper; 1 tbsp vegetable oil for searing

Born in Senegal, adopted by Abidjan's maquis (open-air roadside grills) as its unofficial signature: a whole bird butterflied, marinated hard in lemon, garlic and mustard, then smothered under a mountain of onions that go from raw to jammy in a red palm-oil gloss. The sauce is aggressive — sour, salty, sweet-edged — and it is designed to disappear into a mound of white rice or attiéké, the cassava couscous that turns the plate into a proper Ivorian meal. Eat with your hands, argue about whose mother's yassa wins, repeat.

West Africa Ivorian ⏱ 60 min Fácil

Método

1

Butterfly the chicken, rub all over with half the lemon juice, garlic-mustard mash, salt and pepper. Marinate 30 minutes minimum — overnight, in the bag, is how the maquis do it.
2

Sear the bird skin-down in hot oil over medium-high, 6–8 minutes per side, until bronzed and blistered. Lift out.
3

In the same pot, soften the sliced onions in palm oil with a splash of water and a pinch of salt — 12–15 minutes until collapsed and glossy, not browned.
4

Return the chicken on top of the onions, pour in the remaining lemon juice plus 100 ml water. Cover, steam-low 20 minutes, spooning sauce over the bird twice.
5

Rest 5 minutes, chop into pieces, pile the onion jam over. Serve on a hill of rice or steamed attiéké, sauce must run into the grains.
6

House rule: sharper than you think is right is about the right level.

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