Yucatán Chicken With Achiote Recipes

YUCATAN CHICKEN

Steps:

• Blend marinade ingredients in a food processor until the mixture is thick. Pour into a sealable plastic bag, add the chicken and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Barbeque with marinade on chicken, being careful not to burn the chicken as it cooks. Watch closely. The finished chicken will have nice orange red color.

YUCATáN CHICKEN WITH ACHIOTE

Steps:

• Cut the chicken into 1/2-inch-wide strips. In a large bowl, mix together the orange juice, oregano, garlic, chile, achiote paste, salt, pepper, allspice, and olive oil to make the marinade. Add the chicken strips to the mixture and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
• To cook the chicken, remove the strips from the marinade and drain off any excess liquid. In a large, heavy skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Sauté the chicken strips, turning once or twice, until thoroughly cooked (cut one to test), about 9 minutes total.
• Remove from the heat, squeeze fresh lime juice over the strips, and serve immediately or keep warm in the pan until ready to serve.
• To serve, lay the tortillas side by side, open face and overlapping on a platter. Divide the filling equally between the tortillas and top with salsa and pickled onions. Grab, fold, and eat right away. Or build your own taco: lay a tortilla, open face, in one hand. Spoon on some filling, top with salsa and pickled onions, fold, and eat right away.

POLLO PIBIL

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the achiote paste, orange juice, lime juice, oregano, cumin, and cinnamon and mix well. If the achiote paste is in a hard clump, let it soak in the citrus juice for a while to soften it.
• Add the chicken to the bowl and toss to coat. Let marinate, covered, in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Place a steamer rack in the bottom of a stockpot, Dutch oven, or Instant Pot and add 1 ½ cups water to the pot. Lay a long piece of aluminum foil in the pot on top of the steamer rack. Lay a second long piece of aluminum foil over the first so that the two form a cross. Lay a third piece of foil over making an X with the second piece. Push the foil down into the pot so that the 3 pieces of foil make a sort of bowl shape.
• Place the marinated chicken (along with the marinade) into the foil bowl and wrap up the sides of the foil to make a packet.
• To cook in a stockpot or Dutch oven: Place the lid on the pot and set it over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to low. Steam for about 90minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and very tender. When finished cooking, remove from the heat, remove the lid, and let stand for 10 minutes or so before opening up the foil to serve the chicken.
• To cook in an Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker: Cover and seal the pot and set to pressure cook for 45 minutes. When the cooking time is up, let the pressure release naturally for about 10 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure.
• Serve the chicken with warm corn tortillas, pickled red onion, salsa, cilantro, and other toppings as desired.