Pollo guisado

Ingredients

• Chicken — in pieces1.5 kg
• Sugar2 tbsp
• Limes3
• Dried oregano1 tbsp
• Onions2
• Bell peppers2
• Garlic6 clove
• Tomato paste2 tbsp
• Potatoes500 g
• Olives60 g
• Coriander30 g
• Vegetable oil60 ml
• Rice — to serve400 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Wash the chicken with lime juice, rub it with oregano, garlic, salt and pepper and leave it an hour.

   65 min

2. 2

   Melt the sugar in the oil over medium heat to a dark amber, without stirring with a spoon.

   6 min

3. 3

   Put the chicken pieces into the caramel and brown them on all sides.

   15 min

4. 4

   Add the onion, pepper and tomato paste and cook five minutes, stirring.

   7 min

5. 5

   Add a cup of water, cover and stew twenty-five minutes on a low heat.

   27 min

6. 6

   Add the potato in large pieces and stew twenty minutes more, until tender.

   22 min

7. 7

   Stir in the olives and coriander, reduce the sauce to a coating consistency and serve with white rice.

   10 min

About the dish

The chicken is browned in burnt sugar. That gives the dark colour and a faint bitterness, and without it pollo guisado stays a pale stew.

The sugar is taken to dark amber and no further. Burnt, it turns bitter, and the difference between right and ruined is a matter of seconds.

The chicken is marinated in lime juice and oregano for an hour. The acid tenderises the meat and removes any smell, and Dominican households never skip that step.

Worth knowing

• — Do not stir the caramel with a spoon — swirl the pan. Stirring crystallises the sugar into lumps.
• — The chicken goes in dry. Wet, it cools the caramel and you get boiled meat in a sweet sauce instead of a crust.
• — The sauce should coat the chicken rather than pool around it. A thin pollo guisado reads as undercooked in the Dominican Republic.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

680 kcal

Protein

46 g

Fat

26 g

Carbs

62 g

More from Dominican Republic

• Dominican sancocho — A thick soup of several meats and root vegetables. Celebration food, cooked for a crowd.
• Mangú — Mashed boiled green plantain with pickled onion, egg, fried cheese and salami.
• Sweet cream of beans — A sweet dessert cream of red beans with coconut milk, sweet potato and biscuits.