LETCHON NGA MANOK

If you are in the Philippines, you can be considered lucky enough because lechon manok is available almost everywhere. Chances are that there are several stalls/stores near your place that sells this yummy food and they all compete with each other in terms of quality and price. Andok’s, Baliwag, Sr. Pedro, and Chooks-to-go are some of the popular names when it comes to lechon manok.

 But, what if you live abroad? What are your options if you start to crave for one? I am not sure on how it is in your location, but I can say that I have very few options here in Chicago, so I decided to make one for my family. It is not as convenient as buying cooked lechon manok in Manila, but I developed the confidence and the bragging right to say, “I made one myself and it was delicious”.

 Before we start, let me tell you that you will need the proper equipment to spit-roast the chicken with ease – you do not want to manually turn the chicken for 3 hours. It will be great if you have a spit-roaster that you can turn to autopilot to make things more convenient. I just happened to have a grill (Weber Summit S‑670) that does almost everything, and it even has a spit roaster where I can make lechon manok or even lechon de leche.

This is a recipe for rotisserie or spit-roasted chicken. This is also known as Lechon Manok in Filipino.

Author: Vanjo Merano

Recipe type: Main dish

Cuisine: Filipino

Serves: 5

Ingredients

• 1 (2 to 3 lbs.) whole chicken

Marinade

• 4 thumbs ginger, crushed
• 5 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 medium red onion, sliced
• 5 pieces dried bay leaves, crumbled
• 1 stalk lemongrass, bottom part crushed
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 ¾ cups 7-up

Stuffing

• 1 stalk crushed lemongrass (tanglad)
• 2 bunches of green onions (dahon ng sibuyas)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine all the marinade ingredients. Mix well.
2. Place the chicken inside a large re-sealable bag. Pour the marinade in the bag with the chicken. Put the onion and lemongrass inside the cavity. Seal and refrigerate overnight.
3. Remove the chicken from the bag and then stuff with fresh lemongrass and green onion.
4. Prepare to roast the chicken on the grill by skewering the entire fowl on a spit and secure both sides with a grill fork.
5. Spit-roast (or i-litson in Tagalog) for 2 ½ to 3 hours or until the chicken is done
6. Transfer to a serving plate. Serve with lechon manok sauce and atchara.
7. Share and enjoy!