How to Cook Chitpotle Braised Chicken With Cotija Rice
Serves: 4-5
Preparation time: 5-7 mins
Cooking time: 45 mins
Ingredients needed to make Chitpotle Braised Chicken With Cotija Rice:
For the chicken:
- 1 ( 3 lb) whole chicken, skinned and chopped into quarters
- 8 garlic cloves, quartered
- 2 Vidalia or yellow onions
- 4 plum tomatoes, peeled and cored
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3-5 chitpotle chilies in adobo sauce
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
For the cotija rice:
- 3 cups white rice, cooked
- 1 ¼ cup heavy cream
- 2/3 cup Cotija cheese
- 2/3 cup butter
- 2 tsp salt or more to taste
Cooking instructions for Chitpotle Braised Chicken With Cotija Rice:
- Chop two onions into quarters and set aside.
- Place the chicken pieces into a large pot and drop the quartered onions into it.
- Fill it up with cold water, sprinkle a dash of salt to it and heat the mixture, until it begins to boil.
- Reduce the mixture to a simmer and continue to cook for half an hour.
- Turn off the heat and drain out the chicken from the broth, using a slotted spoon , into a bowl and set the broth aside for future use.
- Chop the other onion into 1’’ chunks and set aside.
- Heat small amount of oil in a skillet and throw in the chopped onions.
- Sauté it for several minute, while stirring at times, until they turn golden brown; transfer to a separate bowl and set aside.
- Pour rest of the olive oil into a small sauce pot and plop the quartered garlic into it.
- Simmer them over slow flame until the garlic gives out a pleasant aroma but don’t let it brown.
- Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for 1 minute and transfer them immediately into a bowl of cold water.
- Peel the skin off from each tomato and remove the seeds.
- Transfer these tomatoes into a blender, along with the garlic and sautéed onions.
- Add the chitpotle chilies, followed by a cup of the reserved stock and pulse them into a smooth puree.
- Pull the cooked chicken into fine shreds, with your hands, thus separating the meat from the bone.
- Pour the puree into a saucepan, along with the shredded chicken and pour in more broth.
- Simmer the mixture for about 10 mins or until it thickens and the sauce coats the chicken evenly.
- While the chicken cooks, melt butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over moderate heat and stir in the white rice.
- Season with a dash of salt and keep stirring the mixture gently at times, while heating the rice for about 5 minutes.
- Stir in rest of the ingredients and continue to cook the mixture until it this thoroughly heated through.
- Adjust the seasonings if required and remove from heat.
- Arrange a bed of cotija rice on serving plates and spoon the braised chicken over it.
- Serve hot.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
