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Pollo en adobo means “chicken in sauce”, though adobo implies a specific kind of Mexican sauce. This dish is interesting because I first made it in Germany before I had any idea of what the chiles were, and I followed the recipe, which said:
6 dried ancho chiles, or any other dried chiles
More than anywhere, that's incorrect. Anchos are the dried version of Poblano chiles, and they have a very specific flavour. If you can't get them or one of the other of that kind, don't even bother to try. I found this out when I went to Mexico in 1979; before that I had made a fiery dish that had little in common with the intended flavour.
In this recipe I also use a couple of other chiles, Pasilla and mulato, which have a similar flavour.
quantity | ingredient | step | ||
30 g | chile ancho | 1 | ||
15 g | chile pasilla (chile negro) | 1 | ||
10 g | chile mulato | 1 | ||
150 ml | chicken broth | 1 | ||
1 kg | deboned chicken thighs | 2 | ||
1 g | cloves | 3 | ||
2.5 g | cinnamon | 3 | ||
2 g | pepper | 3 | ||
4 g | coriander seed | 3 | ||
240 g | onion | 4 | ||
425 g | tomatoes | 4 | ||
15 g | garlic | 4 | ||
25 g | sugar | 4 | ||
15 ml | white vinegar | 4 | ||
15 g | salt | 4 | ||
60 g | lard (rendered pork fat) | 5, 6 | ||
Break the chiles open and remove seeds and ribs. Bring the broth to the boil and soak the chiles in the broth for at least 30 minutes:
Chop the chicken into serving-size pieces.
Grind the spices finely.
If using tinned tomatoes, drain the juice; otherwise there will be too much sauce. Reserve the juice and add some if the sauce gets too thick. Chop the onions, garlic and tomatoes coarsely and put in a blender along with the ground spices, the chiles, sugar, salt and vinegar. Blend to a purée.
Melt 15 g lard in a casserole and add the sauce. Bring to the boil and simmer.
Melt the remaining 45 g lard in a frying pan and brown the chicken pieces. Add to the sauce and bring to the boil. Simmer for 45 minutes.
Serve with rice and yellow maize tortillas:
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