Caribbean: Belize: Belizean Stewed Chicken
INGREDIENTS:
4-5 lb chicken cut into pieces
10 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon Maggi chicken bouillon seasoning or other chicken bouillon seasoning of your choice
1 ts thyme use fresh thyme if you can
1 onion diced
1 green bell pepper diced
2 tablespoon Sazonador Total by Goya can sub salt and pepper if you don’t have this ingredient
7 tablespoon olive oil 4 tablespoon for the marinade plus 3 tablespoon for frying the chicken
1 ts brown sugar
3 tablespoon red recado 1 tablespoon added when stewing, plus 2 tablespoon additional for marinade; can sub Achiote Rojo
1 quart chicken broth you may not use all of this broth, use only enough to cover the chicken in the pot and recommend to use unsalted
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 small cilantro bunch chopped (add at the end of cooking time)
INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix the garlic, chicken bouillon, thyme, sazonador total, 4 tablespoon of olive oil, and 2 tablespoon of the recado rojo in a small bowl to make the marinade. Season the chicken all over with this marinade, and leave in the refrigerator for at least one hour, or preferably overnight.
Heat 3 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan (cast iron if possible) and mix in the brown sugar, med high heat. When very hot, fry all the chicken on all sides until golden brown. You will most likely need to fry in batches. After frying the first batch, scrape up any browned or burned bits before adding another batch. Keep repeating until all the chicken has been browned.
Move the chicken to a stockpot or large saucepan or stockpot, and add just enough chicken broth to cover the chicken. If you don’t have enough chicken broth, use additional water. You want the chicken just covered with liquid. Add the diced green pepper and diced onion, along with an additional 1 tablespoon of the recado and mix well. Bring to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer for around 45 minutes to 1 hr. You can remove the cover for the last 15 minutes if you like to reduce some of the sauce.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and then stir in your bunch of cilantro. If you like add additional sazonador total to taste.
NOTES:
Enjoy this magnificent taste of Belize! Serve along with Belizean Rice and Beans, and also potato salad for an authentic Belizean meal!
