Pops De Milk

My goodness it’s been a while. I’ve been so busy with the National Novel Writing Month that after working all day on my novel I can’t seem to find the energy to make a decent meal, let alone write about it. But tonight I make an exception because I’ve neglected my lovely blog for too long.
Tonight’s dish was prepared with achiote paste (info on achiote here, here, and here) . My dad recently got back from a trip to Central America and he brought back a package of the red paste so I figured I should use it to cook chicken. Normally I use this paste to make chancho con yucca (pork with cassava) but it’s just as awesome on chicken or beef. The paste is mainly used as a natural food colouring but it has a nice peppery flavour to it and it’s good for tenderizing meat.

Achiote Chicken

4 chicken thighs

approx 3 tbsp achiote paste

approx 2 tbsp white vinegar

3 garlic cloves, minced

Mix together the paste, vinegar and garlic and coat the chicken well, then marinate for a few hours or cook right away. Usually I heat up a pan with oil and I fry the achiote chicken but tonight I decided to use the broiler. I skewered the chicken thighs and suspended them over my kebab frame. I put that over a baking pan (to catch the drippings) and I broiled the chicken for about 20-25 minutes. Of course, if you have a broiling pan with ridges that’s probably even better but I had to improvise. Once cooked, let the chicken sit for a few minutes then remove the skewers and serve with rice and salad.