I had the wonderful pleasure of visiting Trinidad and Tobago this year and it was magnificent. It is a beautiful country with tremendous food, people, wildlife and nature. I tried so many dishes and was very happy to have the chance to see Trini Stew Chicken made so I am sharing it with you. This is a modified version of Trini Stew Chicken that uses bell peppers and jalapeños instead of more traditional pimento peppers. Trini Stew chicken is what it sounds like, delicious stewed chicken that is loaded with flavourful aromatics. It gets is classic dark brown colour from brown sugar that is placed in the pot and heated until it is basically beginning to smoke but not burnt. The chicken is seared in this piping hot sugar and cooked in its colourful marinade until it is fall off the bone. Though bell peppers and jalapeños are used here, this recipe still gives the feel and a lot of of the same flavour as the traditional recipe. Pimento peppers taste like scotch bonnet peppers without the heat, or with very very little heat and can be found at numerous Caribbean and Asian grocery stores in Toronto. If you want to make this recipe more traditional, just sub pimentos back in for bell peppers and jalapeños. Bell peppers and jalapeños give the final product a bit more of a “stewy” character in that there are more stewed veggies in your pot. With bell peppers and jalapeños, you have to take extra precaution not to add all of your marinade to your pot right away because of their high water content. Adding too much marinade while you are searing your chicken will hinder browning of your chicken. Instructions for how to make the perfect Stew Chicken are written below and I can thank my new Trini friend Louis for teaching me just how it is done.
Ingredients
- 8 bone-in skinless chicken thighs
- 1 lime to clean chicken
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
- 1 red bell pepper finely diced
- 1 green bell pepper finely diced
- 3, split and diced green onions
- 3 habanero whole
- 3 sprigs thyme
- 1/2 onion diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1-2 inch ginger minced
- 1 heaping tablespoon of ketchup
- 1/3-1/2 cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Take your skinless chicken and squeeze the juice of a whole lime over it. Rinse under cold water until slimy texture of chicken it no longer there. If you do not start with skinless chicken, remember to skin your chicken first. You can use only thighs or a combo or thighs and drumsticks.
- Prep all your veggies and make sure to cut them very finely because you want them to stew down nicely.
- Toss your your chopped veggies and aromatics on your washed clean chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and let marinate in the fridge for 2-3 hours. Traditionally this is made with pimento peppers. If using pimento peppers, replace both belle peppers and jalapeños for about 300 grams of pimentos diced.
- In a pot add 2 tablespoons of oil and 1/3 cup of brown sugar. You can add more brown sugar for a sweeter final meal and more sauce.
- Allow your sugar to brown basically to the pot of smoking but before it gets black or starts to burn.
- Add your chicken quickly to the pot of sugar and brown both side for about 1 minute – 1 minute 30 seconds each side. Try not to add all the veggies fro your marinade while your chicken first hits the pan because this will prevent browning.
- After your chicken has browned on both sides, add the rest of the veggies from your marinade and mix and lower heating.
- Let chicken simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes until veggies soften dramatically and chicken cooks.
- Add about a heaping tablespoon of ketchup and mix well, making sure to scrape bottom but not break up chicken pieces.
- There should be enough liquid from veggies to stew your chicken but if your chicken is drying out quickly, ass about 1/3 cup of water only after your chicken and veggies have turned a dark brown colour.
- Add thyme springs and whole habanero and simmer for an addition 10-15 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked, veggies are soft and the content of your your whole pot are a beautiful dark brown. You can season with more salt if you need to.
