Seco de Pollo – Ecuadorian Chicken Stew
Maria, one of my closest friends from college, is from Ecuador and she introduced me to the cuisine through home cooked meals (her empanadas were insanely good!!) and dining at El Caserio restaurant in Silver Lake.
After moving away from California, whenever I craved Ecuadorian food, I have to cook it because there aren’t any restaurants where I live. Seco de pollo (chicken stew) is a dish with ingredients most people can easily find at the store, no matter where you live. Maria walked me through her recipe and I also picked up some pointers through Laylita.com. This recipe is a mash-up of both their ideas and it turned out really delicious!
Seco de Pollo – Ecuadorian Chicken Stew
Servings 5
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg 3.3 lbs mix of chicken legs and thighs
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp paprika* or ground achiote
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- Salt & pepper to taste
Ingredients to Blend
- 3 large tomatoes cut into chunks
- 1 bell pepper deseeded and cut into small pieces, reserve half to add to the stew
- 1 yellow onion peeled and cut into chunks
- 5 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 bunch parsley reserve some leaves to top the cooked stew
- 2 Thai chilies optional, or add chili powder to taste
- ¼ cup Pilsner light beer
- Juice of ½ orange
- 1 cup chicken stock
Instructions
- Rub the chicken with cumin and paprika, and set it aside to marinate for about 30 minutes while you work on the other ingredients.
- Place the tomatoes, bell pepper, onions, garlic, parsley, chilies, beer, orange juice into a food processer. Blend together to a thick chunky sauce.
- Heat some vegetable oil in a large pot and brown the chicken.
- Pour the blended sauce over the chicken and bring to a boil. Add the other chopped half of the bell pepper into the pot.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for an hour.
- After an hour, remove the chicken and if you prefer a chunkier sauce, cook it for another 15 minutes to reduce it down. Add salt & pepper to taste. Sprinkle finely chopped fresh parsley on top of the stew.
- Enjoy it with Ecuadorian rice and pickled onions.
Notes
*The original recipe called for ground achiote but I can’t find that where I live. Paprika was the closest substitute I could find.
My Family Loved it. I am definitely sharing Guys, Thanks For sharing this Great Recipe. this recipe and this website with my friend. Hope they also love it. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe.
Love ecuadorian food, especially the Ceviche and Encebollado too
I made this and \….it was, meh. Per my Ecuadorian friends, the stew does not have the beer or
I’m ecuadorian – the stew can have beer. I typically go. for mexican lagers.
My mom is from Ecuador and she makes something like this but with duck. It’s very delicious.
That sounds so delicious! Ecuadorian food is really awesome!