Christian Jalim
Matsuyama BOE ES/JHS ALT, 2019-2024
Christian Jalim is a fifth year ALT JET living in Matsuyama. He originally hails from Manzanilla, in rural Trinidad, which boasts the longest coastline in the country, various geographical places of interest, and lush greenery wherever you turn. He is super excited to be able to share his culture through food!
About the Recipe
“Stew Chicken” is a STAPLE in Trinidad and Tobago. Enjoy this dish with rice and callaloo, rice and peas, or even alongside a slice of macaroni pie.
Disclaimer: This recipe requires working with molten hot sugar through a literal caramelisation process so if you’re up to the challenge, please exercise EXTREME CAUTION. Otherwise, you can probably skip the caramelisation step, it would still be delicious, but it just won’t be a stew chicken.
Stew Chicken
Servings: 4 Prep. Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 45 mins
Ingredients
1 pk chicken thighs, fat trimmed, cut bite-sized
1 pk of chicken drummettes
4 tbsp green seasoning
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tomato (cut into wedges)
3 tbsp flavourless oil
5 tbsp of brown sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsbp black pepper
Method
1. If you’re uncomfortable with washing chicken, then my all means omit this step. (But I’m Caribbean and this is what we do.) Fill a bowl with lukewarm water and add the juice of 1 lemon, remove the seeds and add the cut lemon into the water as well. Add the cut pieces of chicken into the bowl of water and gently rub the lemon on the chicken to clean it, strain and put into a clean bowl.
⚠️ Be sure to clean your working area after working with raw chicken.
2. In a clean metal mixing bowl, with the chicken, add all the seasonings (all the ingredients except the oil and sugar) mix well and set aside to marinate (ideally overnight in the fridge but an hour can also work if you’re pressed for time).
3. If you refrigerated the chicken, take it out and allow it to rest for about 10-15 minutes before cooking. In the meantime, add the oil and sugar to a dutch oven, a wok or any other wide bottomed pot with high sides. Heat the oil and sugar on high heat and once the sugar starts to melt, reduce the heat to medium. Remember we are making a caramel so it’s ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL that you do not move away from the pot or divert your attention from the pot while making the caramel. Once the sugar starts getting darker from it’s raw colour, reduce the heat to low (keep the chicken nearby) and allow the sugar to cook until a dark brown colour (think of the sugar sauce in pudding).
4. Once the sugar reaches the desired colour, quickly but carefully add the chicken. Remember this is hot molten sugar so please be careful! I recommend bringing the bowl close to the pot and carefully tilting the bowl to empty the chicken into the pot. I also recommend, tilting away from you in case any sugar splatters. There will be some hot steam so again, please be careful.
5. Once the chicken is added, turn the chicken to coat it in the sauce. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
6. Put 1/2 cup of water into the bowl that contained the chicken and swish it around to pick up any remnants of seasoning and add to the pot.
7. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes on medium heat, stirring every 10 minutes.
👉 From this point, if it’s too saucy for your liking, you can cook for another 10-15 minutes uncovered to reduce the sauce. If the gravy is to your liking, taste for seasoning and add more salt OR even a bouillon cube or ketchup if desired and cook for another 5 minutes.
Tips 👌
✨ Add 1/2 ～ 1 tbsp chili powder or any other spicy mix to your seasonsing if you want your chicken on the spicier side
Leave a Reply