Marinated Bajan chicken & carrots
Caribbean cooks will use sugar to brown meats, particularly chicken, for stewing. This example that uses both bitters and Worcestershire is based on a recipe from Barbados. It is characteristically AngloCaribbean in its use of the bottled goods along with marjoram and thyme. For six.
-12 chicken thighs
-a minced hot chili or ½ teaspoon cayenne
-3 or 4 smashed and minced garlic cloves
-2 big onions, halved and sliced into thin crescents
-3 chopped scallions
-½ heaped teaspoon dried marjoram or 1 teaspoon fresh
-1 heaped teaspoon dried thyme or 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
-2 Tablespoons Angostura bitters
-3 Tablespoons Worcestershire
-2 Tablespoons neutral oil
-1 heaped Tablespoon sugar
-about 1 cup chicken stock
-about 2 cups carrots, peeled and cut into uniform batons
- Toss the chicken, chili, garlic, onions, scallions, herbs, bitters and Worcestershire into a plastic bag and refrigerate overnight.
- Stir the sugar and oil together in a heavy skillet over high heat until the sugar turns brown. Be careful; any spatter will burn you, and you do not want to burn the sugar.
- Brown the chicken in batches, reduce the heat to medium and add the marinade and chicken to the skillet.
- Bring the mixture to a boil, add the stock and carrots, return the mixture to a boil and then simmer, partially covered, for about ½ hour.
Notes:
- Serve the stew with rice or dumplings.
- The original recipe uses substantially more sugar; we found it too sweet with the carrots. We also have boosted the original amount of herbs, Angoostura and Worcestershire.
- You could omit the carrots if you do not like them. You also could either add or substitute 2 cups of potatoes cut into 1 inch chunks at Step 4.