If you attended our 2022 Celebration and Fundraiser Dinner on Oct. 25, part of the fun experience was sharing a meal inspired by the cuisine of Guatemala. Here is the menu and a couple of recipes that you can make at home. Enjoy!
Menu:
Pepián de pollo with rice (recipe below)
Tortillas
Salad
Tres Leches Cake
Cocoa Tea (recipe below)
Pepian with Pollo (Recipe by Luis Yanes, adapted from Familiakitchen.com)
Servings: 10
Prep Time: 25 min. Cooking Time: 1 hour, 15 min.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
water, to cover the chicken (around 5 cups)
1 Tbsp salt
Recado Sauce:
2 guajillo chiles - seeds and stem removed
2 ancho chiles - seeds and stem removed
6 Roma tomatoes
1/2 onion, large or 1 medium
5 to 6 cloves garlic
1 inch cinnamon stick
2/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds, shelled
2/3 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup cilantro, packed, roughly chopped
1 lb string beans, fresh, trimmed
1 potato, large, peeled, cubed
2 guisquiles squash or chayotes, peeled, cubed
Directions:
Boil and Shred the Chicken:
● Place the whole chicken in a large pot and fill it with water to cover. Add the salt.
● Turn the burner to high, bring the water to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and let the chicken cook for 30 - 45 minutes.
● Skim off and discard any grey scum that may form while cooking.
● When done, set the pot with the chicken and its broth aside to cool.
● When cool to the touch, shred or cut the chicken into bite-size pieces and return to the pot with the chicken broth. “Traditionally, we only shred the chicken breast, and keep the thighs and legs of the chicken whole (bone-in),” says Luis.
Prep the Vegetables:
● Wash and trim the ends of the fresh string beans, leaving them whole.
● Peel and cut the guisquiles or chayote squash and the potato into small cubes.
● Boil vegetables until just cooked.
Make the Recado Base Sauce:
● Make on a hot cast-iron pan, griddle or comal set to medium high
● Dry roast the ancho and guajillo chiles for 1 or 2 minutes. Set them aside in a bowl.
● Dry roast (Char) the tomatoes, onions (skin on) and garlic until very well browned. The garlic will deepen in color, give off an aroma and be ready before the rest of the ingredients. Take them out and add them to the chiles in the bowl.
● When the tomatoes and onion start to blister, blacken and get fragrant, add them to the bowl.
● Place the dry-roasted chiles, tomatoes, onion, garlic and optional anise in a saucepan. Set the heat to medium high. Add water to cover and bring to a boil. When it boils, turn off the heat and set the saucepan aside to cool.
● Adjust the heat of the cast-iron pan, griddle or comal to low. Dry roast the pumpkin seeds until browned (not burned) about 5 minutes. When they start to give off a smoky aroma, they are ready (they will also pop). Set them aside in your bowl.
● Toast cinnamon stick until browned, not burned.
● Dry roast the sesame seeds for 3 to 5 minutes, until they turn pale gold. Keep an eye on them: they can go from toasted to burnt quickly. Add them to your bowl.
● Process the toasted seeds and cinnamon stick in a spice grinder or food processor until they are a very fine powder. You'll need to pulse several times to get the mixture fine enough.
● Scoop out the chiles, tomatoes, onion, and garlic plus about 1⁄2 cup of their liquid into a blender; process until smooth. Add the toasted pumpkin and sesame seeds and cinnamon powder and cilantro.
● Blend—until the mixture completely disintegrates. You will have an orange-reddish, nutty and full-flavored recado sauce.
● Add at least 4 cups of broth and process until smooth
● Strain the recado sauce in batches through a colander if there are any pieces left. Throw away any small scraps of vegetables, seeds and spices left behind in your colander
Putting It All Together:
● Combine sauce, chicken and possibly more broth in pot, Stir to mix well. Set the heat to medium high. When the stew comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low.
● Let the stew simmer and reduce for 10 to 15 minutes, uncovered. (add more water or broth if you want a thinner consistency
● Add the pre-cooked string beans, guisquiles or chayote, and potato to the pot. Stir to combine.
● Serve with white rice, hot tortillas and wedges of fresh avocado on the side.
The consistency of pepian is like a soup: liquidy, Luis says. If your recado is too thick when it comes out of the blender, thin it out by adding a little of the chicken broth. Then pass it through a strainer in batches so that only the liquid goes into the pot with the cooked chicken.
*****
Cacao Husk Tea (recipe from The Spice Jungle)
Cacao husks are the fibrous shells surrounding cacao beans, separated from the cacao nibs during production.
Prep Time: 15 mins
Equipment: French Press OR tea infuser (tea ball or tea pot with infuser basket)
Ingredients:
2 tsp Nacional Cacao Husks per person
1 cup Boiling water per person
Instructions:
If using a French press, add cacao husks and pour in boiling water, then cover.
If using tea ball or infuser basket, try to cover cup or pot while steeping. It's important to keep the water as hot as possible to fully extract the cacao flavor.
Allow tea to steep for 6 to 8 minutes. If you intend to add milk or cream, steep at least 10 minutes.
For French press, slowly depress plunger. Otherwise, remove infuser ball or basket. Pour into serving cups. Add milk/cream and sweetener, if desired.