Grill it, bake it or pan fry it, cilantro marinated drumsticks are going to taste terrific…
The best homemade grilling marinade and the most delicious grilled drumsticks I had in a long time. I warn you, don’t even think of grilling just a few drumsticks, grill as many as you can. You are going to get selfish and may want to gobble up all without sharing with your guest. Do you really want to spoil your reputation by running short? :p
To me, grilling means relaxing and getting my food ready by doing the least amount of work. I don’t even want to spend any time making the marinade or sauce, that’s why I depend on store bought marinades. While grilling, the only work I have to do is the occasional flipping of the meat, most of the times my hubby will volunteer, lucky me! This year, we had started grilling in early spring and we have been very active since then and never seem to get tired of grilling. Though I did get tired of the store bought grilling sauces, hence last weekend I made up my mind to create my own homemade marinade. I only had one requirement, it shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. In less than 5 minutes I had my grilling marinade ready to give a good massage on the drumsticks.
One herb that I used to dislike as a kid and now I tend to add that to almost every dish I prepare is cilantro. Curry leaves is a common herb in Kerala, I don’t think there would be any curry dishes prepared in kerala without the addition of curry leaves. I love the aroma of them and it’s quite healthy too. I made the marinade by making a paste of cilantro, curry leaves, onion, ginger and green chilies. Marinated the drumsticks in the paste, allowed it to rest for a while and grilled it. The marinade got caramelized while grilling and gave the drumsticks an unbelievably terrific taste. We loved and ate it with so much vigor!
I grilled it, if you don’t have a grill, go ahead and bake it. If you don’t have an oven, go ahead and pan fry it. It’s going to taste great no matter how your preparation mode is.
Grilled Cilantro Drumsticks
Ingredients:
- Chicken Drumsticks- 10
Making cilantro marinade:
- Onion, chopped- 1
- Ginger, chopped- 2-inch slice
- Green chilies- 2
- Cilantro, chopped- 1 cup
- Curry leaves- 3 stalks
- Salt- 1 1/2 tsp
- Ground black pepper- 1/4 tsp
- Water- 1/4 cup
While grilling:
- Olive oil or vegetable oil- for coating
- Lemon juice- to drizzle on grilled drumsticks
Instruction
- To a blender jar, add all the ingredients for making the marinade & grind it to a smooth thick paste.
- You could use skin-on drumsticks or skinless.
- In a large bowl, spread the marinade over the drumsticks, let marinate for 30 minutes or longer. Or marinate the drumsticks in the refrigerator overnight.
- Have the grill ready, grease the grill with non-stick cooking spray, place the drumsticks on the grill, and grill them covered at medium-high heat.
- Brush the drumsticks with olive oil, flip them over and grill till they turn golden brown.
- Drizzle lemon juice, grill for a couple more minutes, and remove it from the grill.
- Ensure not to grill till the drumsticks turn dry, should be juicy inside and crispy outside.
- While serving, you could wrap the end of the drumsticks with aluminum foil so that it will be easy to hold.
Making the dipping sauce:
- After the drumsticks are taken out of the marinade, there will be some marinade left in the bowl.
- Pour the marinade into a saucepan, add 1/4 cup water, and cook over medium heat for a few minutes till the sauce gets thickened & starts to turn golden in color.
- Serve the sauce in a small bowl, dip the grilled cilantro drumsticks in the sauce & enjoy.
How to Bake the drumsticks
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and grease with non-stick cooking spray.
- Arrange the marinated drumsticks on the aluminum foil.
- Spray some non-stick cooking spray over the drumsticks.
- Bake for 35 minutes, flip them over after 15 minutes & bake for another 15 more minutes.
- Towards the end, drizzle lemon juice over the baked drumsticks and bake for a couple more minutes.
Pan-frying
- Heat a skillet over medium heat, and add 1/4 cup olive oil or vegetable oil.
- Place the drumsticks over the oil without crowding and pan fry till they turn golden brown in color, flipping it over occasionally.
- Towards the end of frying, drizzle lemon juice over the drumsticks & pan fry for a few more minutes.
- Serve hot along with the cilantro sauce.
- Chicken Drumsticks- 10
- Onion, chopped- 1
- Ginger, chopped- 2 inch slice
- Green chilies- 2
- Cilantro, chopped- 1 cup
- Curry leaves- 3 stalks
- Salt- 1½ tsp
- Ground black pepper- ¼ tsp
- Water- ¼ cup
- Olive oil or vegetable oil- for coating
- Lemon juice- to drizzle on grilled drumsticks
- To a blender jar, add all the ingredients for making the marinade & grind it to a smooth thick paste.
- You could use skin-on drumsticks or skinless.
- In a large bowl, spread the marinade over the drumsticks, let marinate for 30 minutes or longer.
- Or marinate the drumsticks in the refrigerator overnight.
- Have the grill ready, grease the grill with non-stick cooking spray, place the drumsticks on the grill, and grill them covered at medium-high heat.
- Brush the drumsticks with olive oil, flip them over and grill till they turn golden brown.
- Drizzle lemon juice, grill for a couple more minutes, and remove it from the grill.
- Ensure not to grill the drumsticks till they turn dry, should be juicy inside and crispy outside.
- While serving, you could wrap the end of the drumsticks with aluminum foil so that it will be easy to hold.
- After the drumsticks are taken out of the marinade, there will be some marinade left in the bowl.
- Pour the marinade into a saucepan, add ¼ cup water, and cook over medium heat for a few minutes till the sauce gets thickened & starts to turn light golden in color.
- Serve the sauce in a small bowl & dip the grilled cilantro drumsticks in the sauce & enjoy.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and grease with non-stick cooking spray.
- Arrange the marinated drumsticks on the aluminum foil.
- Spray some non-stick cooking spray over the drumsticks.
- Bake for 35 minutes, flip them over after 15 minutes & bake for another 15 more minutes.
- Towards the end, drizzle lemon juice over the baked drumsticks and bake for a couple more minutes.
- Place a skillet over medium heat, and add ¼ cup olive oil or vegetable oil.
- Place the drumsticks over the oil without crowding and pan fry till they turn golden brown in color, flipping it over occasionally.
- Towards the end of frying, drizzle lemon juice over the drumsticks & pan fry for a few more minutes.
- Serve hot along with the cilantro sauce.
