Simply-grilled chicken

Whenever I want a simple and homey grilled chicken, I usually just marinate chicken meat in soy sauce, crushed pepper and garlic. Filipino food usually use a lot soy sauce in the dish, to add salt or color. It’s all according to taste, I really don’t know the exact measurements. And just before grilling, I add the juice of one calamansi (Philippine lemon). It has never failed to satisfy my craving and have always impressed my foreign friends whenever they visit at home. Dippings? Just a combination of soysauce, lemons and chopped chilis will do.

It’s as homey as it can get, we have what we call a “dirty kitchen”. Most Filipino homes you would find a kitchen within the house where you have a gas stove or an electric one. And outside is the old-fashioned way cooking where one uses firewood to boil away meats to perfection. It is usually sooty and smoky with the smoke from the wood-fired stove. For grilling? We use dried coconut husks which easily turns to coal which is perfect for grilling. One can use metal griller to put the meats or since I live in a farm, cut off a few branches of Madre de Cacao (Gliricidia) and put on top of the coal. That’s your griller!calamansi chicken meat chilis coal coconut husks dried coconut exact measurements filipino food firewood gas stove grilled chicken lemons madre de cacao marinate chicken old fashioned way soy sauce