Here is a great recipe for Trinidad style Stew Chicken. It looks like a lot but it really isn't as complicated as it seems. If your feeling to try something new, this should do the trick.
You’ll need…
1 (4-5 pounds) whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 cloves of garlic – thinly sliced or crushed
1 teaspoon fresh/bottled ginger – crushed. (use 1/2 if it’s ginger powder)
2 tablespoon vegetable oil (one that can withstand high heat)
1 medium onion – chopped
1 medium tomato – chopped
2-3 tablespoon cilantro (or 2 tbs Trinidad green meat seasoning)
2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 hot pepper (only if you like your food spicy)
1 green onion or chive – chopped
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (1 teaspoon dried)
1 lime or lemon or 3 tablespoons of vinegar
Lets get started…
Preparing the chicken. Cut or ask your butcher to
cut the chicken into serving size pieces. In a bowl empty the cut
chicken and squeeze the lime or lemon (or vinegar) onto the chicken,
then add some water from your tap to cover the pieces of chicken. Now
wash each piece individually, removing skin and any fat . Now rinse with a new batch of water and drain.
Now in the same bowl with the freshly washed chicken you’ll add
ALL the ingredients
EXCEPT
the oil, sugar and cup of water, we’ll be using those to cook the
chicken. Here’s what it should look like (remember to mix everything
around and let it sit (marinate) in the fridge for about 1hr before
cooking.
FYI,
you’ve just seasoned the chicken. After about
an hour or so it time to get things moving. It’s best if you could find a
solid or heavy pan/pot, like a dutch oven for the actual cooking
process. The heavier the pan, the better the oil will heat evenly and
the chicken will caramelize for you. On high heat, add the oil to the
pan. Just before the oil starts to smoke, add the brown sugar.
TIP
– be sure to have the seasoned chicken handy, use a long handle spoon
(it will get hot) and oven mitts to hold onto the pot to turn the pieces
of chicken to get it evenly coated. It’s important that you keep an eye
on things and be ready to act fast.
Next tip
– it can get a bit smoky with the high heat at this point, so you may
want to turn the exhaust fan over your stove on or open a window in the
event you have smoke detectors installed.
Here’s a pic of adding the sugar to the hot oil.
Move around the sugar in the pot (remember to use a dry spoon with a
long handle), until it starts to melt. Now keep a close eye on things
here, since you’re looking for the sugar to go a bit foamy, and change
color to golden. See pic below. Notice the bottom left of the picture
where the sugar appears a bit darker? That’s the exact color you’re
looking for before adding the chicken.
At this point you can start adding the pieces of chicken into the pot
with the caramelized sugar. Try to be quick, since you don’t want the
sugar to go much darker than in the picture above. Be sure to coat every
piece of chicken so it “browns” evenly. Now cover the pot and let
simmer for about 5 -10 minutes. you’ll notice that the pot will now have
some excess water in it.
Remove the lid and turn the heat back up to high. Let’s get rid of
that water that formed earlier.We’re ensuring that all the pieces of
meat is nice an golden brown at this point. Ensure that there’s no water
left in the pot.. it will seems as if it’s starting to stick or burn.
Now add the cup of water to the bowl that contained the seasoned
chicken. Swish it around so you get all the seasoning bits that were
left back. Add this water to the pot so you can continue cooking the
chicken for another 25 minutes or so. Turn the heat back down to a
simmer and let cook until the water thickens up to a nice gravy like
consistency.
Enjoy!
Recipe Courtesy Of
caribbeanpot.com/
