There is a Caribbean restaurant east of Pittsburgh and they have authentic Caribbean food - including Jerk Chicken. They also have something called Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken. The chicken is stewed in veggies and spices and is tender and juicy and loaded with flavor. I have recreated this recipe and served it with a coconut curry rice. Yum!
Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken
1 whole chicken (about 3lb)
A splash of lime juice
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
1 onion
3 stalks of scallion
1 hot pepper (ideally scotch bonnet)
1 sweet pepper
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 inch of ginger
3 tomatoes
Oil for frying
3 tablespoons of flour, stirred in to 1/4 cup of water
3 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 3 teaspoons of dried thyme)
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon of kitchen bouquet browning sauce
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
2 teaspoons of creole sesasoning (more if you want it spicy!)
2 cups of water
Wash the chicken with a splash of lime juice. Chop the chicken in to small pieces. Chop the onion, scallion, hot pepper, sweet pepper, garlic and tomatoes in to small pieces, grate the ginger and mix the flour in 1/4 cup of water. Season the chicken by rubbing in salt, pepper, thyme, onion, scallion, hot pepper, sweet pepper, garlic, ginger and tomato. Leave to marinate for one hour.
Scrape the seasoning off the chicken and fry in the oil until the chicken is sealed (about 5 minutes). Remove the chicken and drain off the oil. Melt the butter in the saucepan and fry the onion, scallion, hot pepper, sweet pepper, garlic, tomatoes and thyme for three minutes Add the water, soy sauce and browning and simmer for five minutes. Stir the flour/water mixture in to the stew then add the chicken. Simmer for five minutes, occasionally stirring gently.
