Tag: Chicken
Sancocho de Gallina
Sancocho de Gallina
Sancocho is a traditional Colombian soup. It will always contains plantains, yucca, potatoes, corn, and alinos paste. There are many different varieties of meats and seafood that are used for protein. The word, Gallina, is Spanish for chicken. The best option is to use a whole chicken. I separated the drums, thighs, and wings. I cut the chicken breast into 4 pieces. Neck, back, liver, heart, and gizzards all went in there as well. If you would rather have all dark meat, use bone in thighs and drumsticks; breast for white. Most importantly, don’t be a little bitch and use boneless skinless chicken for this recipe. The purpose of using a whole chicken is to suck every last bit of flavor out of the carcass. It is significantly cheaper. It is also respectful to the animal that you are about to consume to not waste it’s body. If you were to ask for this boneless skinless in Colombia, they would look at you like you’re crazy. And hopefully gun your ass down. So unbitch your children and teach them to eat bone in chicken.
Ingredients
- 12 cups chicken stock
- 4 lbs whole chicken cut up
- 1/2 cup alinos columbianos
- 2 plantains cut into 1” chunks
- 3 ears of corn cut into 2” pieces
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 lb frozen yucca cut into 1” chunks
- 3 medium red potatoes cut into 1” cubes
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- chopped cilantro garnish
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, add in the chicken, plantains, alinos, corn, salt, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add in the yucca, potatoes, and black pepper. Continue simmering for another half hour.
- Let sit for 15-20 minutes before serving.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro.
Aji de Gallina (Creamed Spicy Chicken)
Aji de Gallina (Spicy Creamed Chicken)
Every time I go Stoned Souping in downtown Denver, I eat at my favorite restaurant, Los Cabos, a small Peruvian joint with absolutely amazing food. I know because I’ve eaten almost the entire menu. They have excellent ceviches, really tender aji de panca spare ribs, Seco de carne, Peruvian chicken and rice, whol roasted fish, and so much more. I was just recently there a week ago. One of my favorite menu items is called Aji de Gallina; spicy creamed chicken. The chicken is shredded and cooked in a spicy creamy sauce. The sauce is thickened with milk soaked bread, walnuts, and cheese puréed with sautéed onions, garlic, and aji amarillo peppers. The yellowish color comes from these peppers, which tastes like a spicy yellow bell pepper. It is hard to find this pepper in this country. You might be able to find it at a Latin grocery store. What you can find is the pepper in paste form. The chicken is traditionally served with boiled yellow potatoes, steamed rice, and is garnished with hard boiled eggs and black olives. Olives happen to be one of the only food items I despise. Please add them in if you are a fan. But you’ll never see them on any recipe on my site.
Ingredients
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 4 slices white bread
- 1 cup evaporated milk
- 3 tbsp walnuts
- 3 tbsp queso fresco cheese
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 medium white onion diced
- 1 head garlic peeled
- 1/2 cup aji amirillo paste
- 4 cooked red or yellow potatoes sliced
- 3 hard boiled eggs sliced
Instructions
- Place the bread and evaporated milk in a bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes.
- While the bread is sitting in the milk, poach the chicken breasts in the chicken stock for 15 minutes.
- Remove the chicken breasts and let cool completely. Save the stock.
- Heat up vegetable oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Add in the onions and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add in the aji amarillo paste. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- While the onions and garlic are cooking, add the soaked bread slices, walnuts, and cheese to a food processor or blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Add the sautéed onions and garlic to the food processor.
- Blend until smooth.
- In the same sauce pan, add in the shredded chicken, the spicy cream sauce, and 2 cups of the chicken stock. Simmer covered on medium heat for 15 minutes.
- Stir in the potatoes. Cook for another 5 minutes uncovered.
- Turn off the heat. Garnish with sliced hard boiled eggs.
Salt and Pepper Chicken
Salt and Pepper Chicken
Salt and pepper chicken is a very common appetizer found in Chinese restaurants. You may even see many other menu items with the salt and pepper name: shrimp, squid, chicken wings, and even tofu. The protein is marinated in a simple garlic/ginger/brown sugar marinade, then dredged in cornstarch. It is then fried then seasoned with a salt and pepper spice mix and garnished with fried basil leaves. That easy.
Ingredients
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts cut into 1 1/2” cubes
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 12 large basil leaves
Marinade
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 3 tsp ginger minced
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Spice Mix
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp five spice powder
Instructions
- Mix together the marinade ingredients. Add the chicken and marinate for 15 minutes.
- Add the ban egg to the chicken. Mix thoroughly. Then add in the cornstarch, making sure that all of the pieces are evenly coated.
- Add the cooking oil to a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Cook the chicken pieces for 4 minutes a side.
- When the chicken is done frying, remove any excess fried bits from the oil by scooping them out with a slotted spoon. Add in basil leaves and fry for 1 minute.
- Season the chicken with the spice mix. Toss with the fried basil leaves.
