stew that chicken

Estofado de Pollo. Thats what Julton immediately responded with when I asked him what we should have for our Saturday lunch. My first reaction... okay. great! and where do I start... I've made some Peruvian dishes, but never alone. Well I take that back, I made Aji de Gallina at home for Christmas, but thats a different story. That wasn't for my Peruvian husband. That was for my US family that didn't know what it really tasted like.

So what do you do when you want to know the recipe for something you dont know how to make? Well for one thing when its a Peruvian dish, odds are you dont foodgawker it. Because although I love that site, I havent seen that many peruvian dishes. Lots of asian dishes though. hmm. So I googled. And I found a great simple recipe. I really should have called a friend for the recipe. But i tackled this one. I used all of these ingredients in the photo below: (minus the oranges and bananas.... which im noticing we eat as though the last ones ever to exist were produced last month)

(if you want to make a peruvian dish.... by the way its really "chicken stew" in english. its tasty. here are the ingredients... if not... skip the next several lines until the conclusion)

(from what I used to make enough for the two of us)

4 pieces of chicken (thats a lie i used 3 because i eat one and julton two but just for you lets say keep at a nice even 4)...but the recipe called for 8 (how big? your guess is as good as mine)

flour

oil

a tablespoon of minced and minced more garlic (i always use more garlic)

1 cup chopped up onion

2 tablespoons tomato paste (i used some leftover tomato sauce)

2 tablespoons chili powder

1/2 cup peas (fresh)

1/2 cup sliced up carrots

1/2 cup port wine (we didnt have wine so i added more chicken stock)

4 potatoes halved... chunked...however you like but in larger pieces

1 cup of chicken bouillon (or if you dont use wine 1 and a half)

salt

pepper

and of course you need to eat it with rice(white rice cooked with garlic :) )

and we had corn on the cobb with ours too

the recipe called to flour and salt and pepper up the chicken but i forgot the flour part. (i will fill you in on where i remembered that part later)

1- brown the chicken then set aside.

2- throw the garlic onion chili powder and tomato paste or sauce into the same pan you were just using

3- soften those onions up then add the peas carrots and chicken stock and or wine (this is where i remembered that i forgot the flour, so i added it to the stock so that it would thicken the stew) and let that boil for 5 minutes

4- add the potatoes and the chicken then simmer until potatoes are cooked

small intermission: we like the kool aid gillian! :D

the finished product: i was (am) very excited with how things turned out. i feel like i accomplished a little something today. i love to cook, and its exciting to cook something that i havent before and it.... turn out! although i will admit that if you are going to divide the recipe in half you should do that with all the ingredients instead of just the meat like i absentmindedly did today. weve got leftovers. but no meat there. im thinking its got my name and not jultons on it. oohhhh!!! and i added green onions. because ive apparently been on an "add green onions to everything because it makes eeeeverything better!!!" kick. weird. there. now i think you should go make yourself some peruvian food. and if someone says hey you made chicken stew! you say shut your mouth i made estofado de pollo!!!