Spicy Adobo Chicken

Who is up for a little mid-week heat?

What I love about this dish is the unashamed spicy heat. Don’t serve this if your loved ones can’t handle a bit of spiciness in their life! All the heat is down to the gorgeous little chipotles in adobo sauce:

..which I managed to find a teensy can of in a specialty grocery shop here in the UK. It wasn’t cheap, but I have seen this ingredient in SO MANY Mexican recipes and I felt like I was missing out by not having it and having to do some of my classic substitutions. I have also found a great looking recipe for the "make your own" version of this which I shall be trying as soon as my bulk order of chipotle chillies comes in the post.

The great thing about this chicken dish is that it is incredibly versatile. To serve mine, I just created a kind of “open” fajita by placing a cooked tortilla on a plate, spooning some rice in the middle, topping with chicken, cheese and beans and then eating with a knife and fork, using the tortilla as a delicious base. Now, some may say I have discovered a whole new way to eat Mexican food, and some may say that I just piled too much food on the tortilla for it to be able to be folded up.

Whatever, it was delicious!

You could also serve this chicken in tacos, or in burritos, or just by itself with some rice.

serves 4

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts
• 1 tsp caynne
• 1 tsp cumin
• A drizzle of olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1 onion
• 1 pepper
• 3 garlic cloves
• Generous knob of butter
• 175ml passata
• 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, and 1 tbsp of the sauce
• 50ml chicken stock

To serve

• Tortilla wraps
• Rice
• Cheese
• Beans
• Guacamole

Method

Begin by cooking the chicken breasts. Place the chicken on a foil-lined tray. Sprinkle over the cayenne and cumin, and season. Drizzle over some olive oil and bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the veggies and measure out the spices.

Heat some butter and oil in a pan, and throw in the onion, pepper, spices and sugar. Season well. 

Allow to cook for 15 minutes, then throw in the garlic and cook for 5 minutes more.

Now, stir in the chipotle chillies and adobo sauce, and pour in the pasatta and stock.

Reduce the heat and allow to cook at a low simmer for 15 minutes.

Put the rice on to cook and grate some cheese.

Remove the chicken from the oven and turn it off. Shred the chicken roughly with two forks. Place the tortillas in the already hot oven to warm through.

Stir the chicken into the sauce and allow to cook a few minutes more.

Now, assemble. I wasn’t feeling wraps in particular, so I just loaded everything up on a tortilla and ate with a knife and fork. The serving suggestions are just optional! I went with some beans, cheese, and rice. If I would have had an avocado I would have done guac too!

Spicy Mexican Mess

PUT IT IN MY MOUTH.