Pollo Guisado (Dominican Stewed Chicken)

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken or a 1.4kg combination of dark and white pieces, cut into serving-sized pieces
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp salt
1 tbs garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano, crumbled
1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper
3 tbsp adobo seasoning
1 chicken stock cube, crumbled
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 green bell pepper sliced
1/2 red bell pepper sliced
1/2 large red onion sliced
45g celery, diced
1 tbs granulated white sugar
129ml water
1/4 tsp tomato purée
2 tbsp green olives, chopped
2 tbsp coriander, chopped and divided two halves

Method:

Remove the skin off the chicken, except for the wings and drumette. Also remove some of the little pieces of fat but not too much of it, we want some to provide some chicken fat to flavour the sauce.

Place the chicken pieces in a bowl. Add in about 500ml water then mix in the lime juice and massage into the chicken for about a minute. Drain the water but do not rinse the chicken pieces.

Keep the chicken in the same bowl, then add the salt, garlic, adobo, oregano, chicken stock cube and soy sauce. Stir well to coat the chicken pieces. Cover the bowl then set aside to marinate in the refrigerator for 6 hours minimum (but preferably over-night).

Once ready to cook, slice the bell peppers, onions, then finely chop the coriander and green olives. Add the peppers, onions and 1 tbsp of the chopped coriander to the chicken and its marinade. Mix thoroughly to combine.

Place a deep frying pan over high heat. Once hot add the sugar in the centre of the pan. As soon as the sugar begins to caramelize (turning a deep brown and smoking), add the first piece of chicken right on top the the sugar and move to the side. Leaving the peppers and onions in the liquid seasoning. Continue the same process with the remainder of the chicken pieces until they are all in the pan. Cook for about 4 to 5 minutes.

In the meantime, add 125ml water to the seasoning with the peppers and onions in it.

Turn the chicken over. It may look like it is burnt but it's just the caramelized sugar doing it's job. That sugar will eventually distribute to the rest of the chicken and provide a wonderful colour (the same principle as using gravy browning to darken a sauce).

Add about 3 tbsp of the seasoned water to the pan and reduce the heat to medium low. Keep adding seasoned water to the chicken every 5 minutes or so for 30 minutes. add more water to the seasoning, if you happen to run low.

After 30 minutes, add the peppers, onions, tomato paste and olives. Stir well and let the mixture cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and making sure it doesn't dry out too soon. If it does, then this is the end of the cooking process.

Once chicken is done, turn into a serving dish, sprinkle with the remainder of the coriander and serve.,

Accompany with white rice.