Chicken Pochero

Today, I cooked pochero for my mom. I think it's a nice little treat for her for the weekend. She used to tell me (and raves) about her dad’s to-die-for pochero which is a combination of chunks of beef and chicken cooked in broth with chorizo de Bilbao, green beans, potatoes, cabbage, bokchoy, garbanzo beans and bananas. Just the thought of a steaming bowl of the stew makes my mouth water. We normally use beef but I opted to use chicken this time.

I have all the ingredients I need except for the chorizo de Bilbao so I just used a couple of Chinese sausage which I rendered in the pan before adding to the stew at the final stage. I also browned the sliced burro bananas instead of boiling them with the meat-for a change. That gave the bananas a nice golden finish.

Here’s how I made it

Ingredients:

2 lb. chicken thighs and legs

1 onion sliced thinly

3 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped

green beans (15-20 pieces or more)

3 heads of bokchoy

3 pieces burro bananas, sliced

2 pieces Chinese sausage, sliced

½ cup tomato sauce

1 large potato cut in cubes

Freshly cracked black pepper (supposedly whole peppercorns)

2 pieces of carrots, sliced about a quarter of an inch

2 Knorr or Herb Ox chicken cubes

Salt to taste

2 tbsp. canola or vegetable oil

6 cups of water

Procedure:

* Heat oil in the pan over medium heat

* Brown the bananas on both sides, set aside

* In the same pan, add the Chinese sausage slices and sauté for a minute- set aside

* Sauté the garlic in the same pan just until fragrant, do not burn- set aside

* Meanwhile, place the chicken pieces, salt and sliced onion in a stock pot. Add water and bring to a boil. Remove any dark foam floating on top and discard.

* Add the sautéed garlic, Knorr chicken cubes, tomato sauce and potatoes and continue to cook.

* Add the green beans and carrots when the potatoes are almost tender

* Add the bokchoy last because it wilts fast.

* Top with the bananas and Chinese sausage and serve 

NOTES:

Feel free to add more vegetables if you want. Always cook the potatoes first because it takes longer to cook but don't wait till it's really tender before adding the rest of the veggies.

The recipe requires garbanzo beans but I don't know why I love hummus but not the whole garbanzo beans

I use chicken bouillon to enhance the chicken flavor