Looking to spice up your chicken routine AND impress your friends with your international culinary knowledge? Look no further than this Adobo Chicken recipe (not to be confused with the Filipino dish) which hails from central Mexico. Despite the widespread presence of Mexican cuisine in our cities, this delectable dish has remained unknown to most of us to my greatest surprise as it is insanely good!
What is commonly referred to as ‘mixiote’ in Mexican cuisine is a traditional pit-barbecued meat dish. The meat is first seasoned with chili peppers, herbs and spices before being wrapped in small packages of parchment paper and then slowly cooked.
The slightly sweet chilies are first seared in a really hot pan which helps develop the flavor and adds a delightful smokiness.
Puréed with the rest of the spices and herbs, they form a thick chili spread which you liberally cover your meat with, in this case chicken thighs.
The real mixiote is actually wrapped in the membrane obtained from maguey leaves (agave Americana), which has the texture of parchment paper, but most people these days use the commercially available baking parchment. Wrap your precious packages well and tie tightly with kitchen string to enclose all that deliciousness while slowly steaming them.
After carefully transferring each package to a shallow bowl, you’re ready for the unveiling…
Opening the package, you’ll immediately get hit with a huge whiff of big spices and chilies which have been simmering for hours, turning the bird into a silky richness you’ve rarely experienced before.
The wrapping will have trapped all the wonderful juices and flavors and you’re not going to want to waste any drop of it, so serve over rice or tortillas to soak it all.
The fork-tender chicken will blow your mind and you’ll wonder how on earth this has flown under the Mexican cooking radar for so long. I count on you to start spreading the news…
[yumprint-recipe id=’15’]
