New Recipe: Oaxacan Chicken Stew

 

When traveling, my favorite thing to do is to try new dishes with exotic ingredients that I'm not familiar with. My second favorite thing to do is to take cooking classes with local cooks who want to share their favorite recipes. On a recent trip to Oaxaca, I had just such an opportunity. 

This was our third time going down to the southern-most state of Mexico. Oaxaca City just happens to be one of best places in the world to celebrate the Christmas season. Oaxacans are very traditional, and their Christmas celebrations involve a week of fiestas, parades, marching bands, and even a radish carving festival. Oaxaca is also where the best mezcal is made. Small batch artisenal mezcal from Oaxaca is highly prized internationally. Oaxacan cuisine is also celebrated worldwide and heavily promoted by celebrity chefs like Rick Bayless. Moles (sauces made with peppers, nuts, and chocolate) are often featured in Oaxacan cuisine, and this chicken stew includes a red mole as a key ingredient.

On a tour to the Alebrijes carving town of Tilcajete, my tour guide arranged for a cooking lesson with Roxana Hernandez, a local artist and home cook extraordinaire. The cooking lesson took place in her upstairs outdoor home kitchen with traditional wood-fired stoves and clay pots. The stew itself is pretty standard, except for the broth. The combination of spices and the addition of homemade mole made this dish special and uniquely Oaxacan.

Surprisingly, Oaxacans rarely use oil in their cooking. The onion and garlic (with the skin on) are dry roasted on a round metal pan and then blended with the tomatoes and spices to make the sauce. The chicken is boiled separately, and its braising liquid is mixed into the stew just before serving. Despite the long list of ingredients, the entire dish took only about 30 minutes to make. What took longer was making the homemade tortillas that were served on the side. Here's the full recipe adapted with American home cooks in mind. All the ingredients can be found at your local Mexican grocer.

Want to see more pictures from my trip to Oaxaca? Check out this photo gallery.

More information about my cooking classes and pop-up events can always be found on my website, where you'll also find over 200 recipes from my classes (no ads!). You can also subscribe to my email newsletter or follow me on Instagram or Facebook and like my posts. Bon appétit!