Guatemalan Pepián de Pollo

Photo: USDAgov · Public domain · source

Guatemala's national dish: chicken and vegetables simmered in a thick, toasty sauce of charred tomatoes, tomatillos, dried chiles and ground pumpkin and sesame seeds.

Ingredients

• 2½ lb boneless chicken thighs, in large pieces
• ½ cup pepitas
• ⅓ cup sesame seeds, plus more to serve
• 2 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
• 1 dried ancho or pasilla chile, stemmed and seeded
• 5 Roma tomatoes
• 4 tomatillos, husked
• 1 onion, halved
• 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 15 corn tortillas (3 for the sauce, the rest to serve)
• 1 lb baby potatoes, halved
• 8 oz green beans, in 2-inch pieces
• ½ bunch cilantro
• 2 cups rice

From your pantry: 1 cinnamon stick, ¼ tsp paprika or achiote, 2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp oil.

Instructions

1. Cover the chicken with 6 cups water and 1 tsp salt in a large pot, bring to a boil, skim, then simmer 15 minutes. Add the potatoes and green beans and simmer 10 minutes more. Strain, keeping the broth. Start the rice.
2. In a dry skillet over medium, toast the pepitas, sesame seeds and cinnamon stick, stirring, until the seeds turn golden and start to pop, 3 to 4 minutes. Tip out. Toast the chiles 20 seconds per side and 3 tortillas until browned.
3. Turn the heat to high and char the tomatoes, tomatillos, onion and garlic, turning, until blackened in spots and soft, 10 to 12 minutes. Peel the garlic.
4. Grind the seeds and cinnamon in a blender until fine. Add the charred vegetables, chiles, torn toasted tortillas, paprika, cilantro stems and 3 cups of the broth and blend until very smooth.
5. Fry the sauce in the oil in the pot over medium, stirring, for 5 minutes, then add the chicken, vegetables and enough broth to make a sauce that coats a spoon. Simmer 15 minutes, and season with salt.
6. Serve with rice and warm tortillas, sprinkled with sesame seeds and cilantro leaves.

Tip: Guatemalan cooks use bone-in chicken and add chayote (güisquil) with the potatoes; both are worth it if you can find them. Use chile pasa if your Latin market has it.

Nutrition per serving

Good for

Adapted from The Foreign Fork.

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