I spent most of my childhood in Miami, Florida. Because of my time in Miami, cooking Latin food makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and reminds me of my youth.
In elementary school, all of us girls were obsessed with “the bar” – a long, u-shaped bar on the playground. We would sit on top of it, grip the bar with our hands behind us, and swing forward. We would dangle there, upside down, talking about our days and what new slap bracelets were out.
One time, a friend and I rushed out to the bar and as we sat on top, we had the bright idea that instead of placing our hands behind us to grip the bar, we would place them next to us, facing forward. This, we thought, would be a truly athletic move. If we swung ourselves fast enough, the momentum would keep us from falling off the bar and we would have perfected a special, secret move no one else could do. The more we talked, the better the idea sounded, and at last we were ready to give it a try.
We sat there, side by side, hands at our sides, and on the count of three we launched ourselves forward with all of our might. Immediately, we face-planted onto the ground. Naturally, the placement of hands did nothing to keep us secure to the bar. If anyone was watching us, they would’ve thought two dim-witted girls climbed onto some playground equipment, made the world’s most ridiculous suicide pact, and then launched themselves with great force straight into the ground. What a ridiculous idea! With dirt all over our faces and sore noses, we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and climbed on top of the bar the usual way and never spoke of our experiment. Ahhh, youth.
This recipe is far from the disaster my bar experiment was! It reminds me of going to my friends’ houses and watching Sabado Gigante, of seeing whole pigs roasted in a backyard, and of eating 12 grapes on New Year’s Eve. It’s one of those recipes that makes me want to turn up the music and dance around the kitchen as I cook.
It’s actually a Dominican recipe (Dominican Flavor’s Pollo Guisado, pronounced poy-yo gwee-SAH-doh) with my own Cuban twist.
The olives, capers, and citrus give the sauce a nice tang. If you like anything with a slightly pickled flavor (like Brats with Sauerkraut, Jamaican Escovitch Fish or Fillipino Chicken Adobo), you will love this dish. The flavors remind me of Miami and put a smile on my face.
You’ll need:
- 1 whole Chicken, cut into pieces
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 tbsp Cumin
- 1 tbsp Oregano
- 1/4 cup of Olive Oil (for marinade)
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 1 cup Sliced Green Olives and Pimientos
- 1/4 cup Capers
- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 5 cloves of Garlic, minced
- Juice of 1 Orange
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- Juice of 1 Lime
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
- 1/2 bunch of Cilantro, minced
- 1/4 cup of Olive Oil (for cooking)
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 8-oz can of Tomato Sauce
- 1 cup of Water (you can fill the can of tomato sauce with water as 8 oz is 1 cup)
Get a really big bowl and toss your chicken into it.
Add a big pinch of salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano (about a tablespoon of each).
Add a 1/4 cup of olive oil and turmeric.
Rub the chicken all over. This step gives the chicken a deep yellow color. We eat with our eyes, too!
Add the olives and pimiento, capers, and Worcestershire sauce to the bowl.
Prepare your garlic, orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, onion, green bell pepper, and cilantro….
and add them to the bowl.
Give everything a good squish with your hands and leave this to marinate for anywhere between 15 minutes to 24 hours (beyond 24 hours, the lime juice will start to break down the chicken and change it’s texture).
Add a little olive oil to a large pot on medium high heat.
Sprinkle in the sugar.
Use a wooden spoon or swirl the pan around to make sure the sugar and the oil are well-mixed.
Let the sugar mixture slightly caramelize (turn light brown) and start to bead. This step will give the chicken a slightly sweet crust. You won’t be able to taste the sugar in the finished dish, but your guests will wonder why the skin tastes so good. It’s such a simple step, but it creates such a depth of flavor.
Fish the chicken out of the bowl and place it into the pot, skin-side down. (Don’t throw away the marinade and all the onions, peppers, etc! Set it aside for now.)
Don’t touch the chicken for 4 minutes. This will ensure the chicken gets a nice sear.
Drop the heat down to medium. Flip the chicken over, cover the pot and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
Remove the cover and dump all the yummy marinade contents…..
…and the tomato sauce into the pot, along with 1 cup of water. You can use the same can the tomato sauce was in since 8 ounces equals 1 cup. If you have picky eaters who will not go near chunks of green peppers and onions and olives, toss the marinade in a blender with the tomato sauce and water until smooth and add that to the pot.
Give it a good stir, cover and cook for another 30 minutes.
- 1 whole Chicken, cut into pieces
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 tbsp Cumin
- 1 tbsp Oregano
- ¼ cup of Olive Oil (for marinade)
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 1 cup Sliced Green Olives and Pimientos
- ¼ cup Capers
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 5 cloves of Garlic, minced
- Juice of 1 Orange
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- Juice of 1 Lime
- 1 Onion, chopped
- 1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
- ½ bunch of Cilantro, minced
- ¼ cup of Olive Oil (for cooking)
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 8-oz can of Tomato Sauce
- 1 cup of Water (you can fill the can of tomato sauce with water as 8 oz is 1 cup)
- Get a really big bowl toss your chicken into it.
- Add a big pinch of salt, pepper, cumin, and oregano (about a tablespoon of each).
- Add a ¼ cup of olive oil and turmeric and rub the chicken all over.
- Add the olives and pimiento, capers, and Worcestershire sauce to the bowl.
- Then add your garlic, orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, onion, green bell pepper, and cilantro to the bowl.
- Give everything a good squish with your hands and leave this to marinate for anywhere between 15 minutes to 24 hours (beyond 24 hours, the lime juice will start to break down the chicken and change it's texture).
- Add a ¼ cup olive oil to a large pot on medium high heat.
- Sprinkle in 1 tbsp of sugar.
- Use a wooden spoon or swirl the pan around to make sure the sugar and the oil are well-mixed.
- Let the sugar mixture slightly caramelize (turn light brown) and start to bead.
- Fish the chicken out of the bowl and place it into the pot, skin-side down (don't throw away the marinade and all the onions, peppers, etc! Set it aside for now).
- Don't touch the chicken for 4 minutes. This will ensure the chicken gets a nice sear.
- Drop the heat down to medium.
- Flip the chicken over, cover the pot and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the cover and dump all the yummy marinade contents and the tomato sauce into the pot, along with 1 cup of water. You can use the same can the tomato sauce was in since 8 ounces equals 1 cup. NOTE: If you have picky eaters who will not go near chunks of green peppers and onions and olives, toss the marinade in a blender with the tomato sauce and water until smooth and add that to the pot.
- Give it a good stir, cover and cook for another 30 minutes.
- Serve.
That looks yummy. I love the pictures and step by step instructions.
Thanks!! 🙂
This dish looks yummy so I desided to make it for my family today it’s on the stove top right at this every minute cant wait to eat it so far it’s going good
Hi Monique! I love hearing that people are making this dish! I hope you and your family enjoyed it! 😀
What a beautiful picture of the finished product! How I wish it was shown on my face book posting. This recipe came at the right time. I will prepare it for your Dad’s birthday social on May 1st. Tekesha, how utterly delighted I am to read your enchanting stories that accompany your recipes, I can’t decide which I like best. Both are sensational and I read them with great pride.Thanks for sharing your brilliant writing and cooking skills!
Thanks, Mom! I will have to spend some time trying to figure out how to select which photo gets put on the Facebook page.
Hey Sis
This is my first time checking out your blog. This recipe look so good. Think I’m going to try it and let you know how it come out. So proud of you.
Michelle
Thank you! Yes, PLEASE try this chicken! Dianne and Kyle have already made it and it is so good 🙂
OMG! I’m looking at all of the ingredients and nodding my head right now. YES, YES this is a must try, thanks for sharing Tekesha.
Yes Charlene, you must!! You will not be disappointed! 😀
Would you recommend serving this with rice?
I feel like it needs some kind of starch.
Hi Stephanie! You can absolutely serve this with rice! 🙂
I had to come here and comment on this recipe. Made it for dinner today. As it’s cooking, you already know it’s gonna be great just by the smell. Pure torture. This is by far one of the tastiest recipes I’ve ever made. Not too difficult to follow either. I did add a bit more onions and peppers but just personal choice. Only substitution I made was that I had no turmeric and saw it was needed to give the chicken that beautiful yellow color and some flavor so I used Chef Merito Chicken Seasoning. Also gives that yellow appearance and great taste. Out of this world finger lickin goodness!!! How many stars is the max? That’s what I give this bad baby.
Thank you so much Vero for coming back to leave a comment! I’m so happy you enjoyed it. I think this one is probably my favorite recipe on the blog. As soon as I smell it on the stove, I can’t help but start smiling in anticipation. Ha ha ha! Thanks again 😀
This is seriously EXCELLENT and ORIGINAL. I have made it twice to rave reviews. And to heck with anyone who does not like onions or green peppers.
Ha ha ha! Thank you so much, Beau! Glad you enjoyed it 😀
Sorry. I forgot the most important part: my rating.
This is seriously EXCELLENT and ORIGINAL. I have made it twice to rave reviews. And to heck with anyone who does not like green pepper or onions.
Just made it my man just fell in love with me all over again lol thank you so much ! ❤️
LOL! I’m not surprised, Jomayra! Thanks for your lovely comment 🙂
Love the updated pictures!
I’ve made this several times and plan to link to it on my blog soon!
Thanks, Stephanie! 🙂
Found your recipe on Pinterest and will try it! Looks soooo yummy!
Thank you, Coco! 🙂
Trying this tonight, can I use all dark meat or thigh instead of whole chicken?
Absolutely, Ann! Hope you enjoyed it! 🙂
This is by far the most delicious recipe for chicken I’ve found. A dish that is packed with flavor that makes you want to dance! I served it with Spanish yellow rice. This will be my go to chicken recipe. Thanks!!!
Thank you so much, Catalina!! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
After I originally left a comment I seem to have
clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added-
checkbox and now whenever a comment is added
I recieve four emails with the exact same comment.
Is there a means you can remove me from that service? Thank
you!
Good Evening!
The blog is set up to notify users when an I respond to a comment someone has left and forward that response via email. I haven’t set it up so that users are notified whenever anyone comments on a thread they have commented on. Myabe this is something you need to fix in your wordpress settings if you are commenting via a wordpress account? What is the entitty in the “From” field when you get these emails? That might help me track down where the emails are coming from and if there is anything I can do on my end.
This recipe was DIVINE!!!! What more can I say. Just heaven on a plate. My family loved it. I especially loved the pictures. And the instructions were very easy to follow. Thank you -Thank you -Thank you!!!!
Wow, Ana! So happy you enjoyed it and thank you for the lovely compliments!!! 😀
This is seriously the best meal ever. I make it all the time with some minor tweaks but it’s become my new comfort food meal. Yummy!!
I’m so glad you are enjoying this, Chantalina! 😀
This is so delicious that you end up licking the bowl. I made this ahead of time to have when friends arrived in Costa Rica. My friend Mary doesn’t care that much for food in general but she raved about this. It was even better the next day as leftovers. I had to search to re-locate this recipe. It is honestly one of the best, tastiest things you will ever make!
Oh Kathy!! Glad you and your guests loved this. I feel the same way, ha ha! 😀
This is delicious! I absolutely loved it and so did my family!
I’m so glad, Stephanie! It’s one of my favorite recipes 🙂