GUATEMALA

 

September 10th, 2020.

Guatemala is a Central American country just south of Mexico. It is home to volcanoes, rainforests and ancient Mayan sites. In searching for popular Guatemalan dishes I found a recipe for Jacon de Pollo. Jacon is what is knows as a recado, which is a style of meal that's one of the foundations of traditional Guatemalan Mayan cuisine. It is typically a thick stew made with a sauce. It's often cooked over an open fire in an  outdoor stove in the highlands of Guatemala. 

There are many variations of this dish in Guatemala but this version hails from Huehuetenango, home to the highland Mam Mayan community, known for their fine weavings in magenta and violet hues. 

The dish itself is very similar to a green chili stew with common ingredients like chicken, tomatillos, cilantro and peppers. But what I found made this dish unique was the addition of mint and more importantly, roasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and sesame seeds. And don't call these seeds a garnish, oh no. These were definitely game changers in this dish. I found that the seeds provided a very earthy and nutty depth of flavor that you usually don't find in tomatillo based stews. The seeds were toasted and grounded up and then added to all the ingredients before processing in a blender. The mint also provided a sweetness that I felt complimented the stew very well. 

The dish was very easy to make. Just boil the chicken pieces and strain it. Toast the seeds and grind them up then throw everything else in a blender with the seeds and make the sauce. Cover the chicken in the sauce and simmer for about 20 minutes to let the flavors come together. I did need to order pepitas off Amazon as I wanted authentic instead of regular pumpkin seeds from the grocery store. Honestly, don't really know if it mad a difference or not, but I went the extra mile for that. 

We served the dish with rice, avocados and corn tortillas. Definitely a dish I would love to revisit again. 

Click to the right to find the recipe for  Jacon de Pollo  Thanks to #astastefortravel for the recipe, you can find their blog at A Taste for travel