Chicken Tinga

Chicken tinga is a spicy chipotle, pulled chicken, one-pot dish. You can serve with just rice, some fresh salsa, and maybe some crunchy tortilla chips on the side. Or my preference use as a filling for tacos and burritos topped off with guacamole, fresh salsa, sour cream and grated cheese... very messy but very delicious! Either way this can be put together in a day in advance or eaten straight away.

The Recipe

Ingredients

• 6 free-range chicken fillets

• 1 red pepper

• 1 onion

• 4 gloves of garlic

• 1 tablespoon of olive oil

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

• 4 tablespoons of chipotle in adobo or 4 teaspoons of chipotle paste

• 250ml of stock (chicken, beef or vegetable)

• 2 cans of tomatoes

• Salt & pepper

• 1 dried chipotle pepper soaked in hot water (optional)

Serving suggestions: boiled rice finished with lime juice/zest, corn/wheat tortillas, fresh tomato salsa, guacamole, sour cream, grated cheese, coriander.

Method

1. Slice peppers, onions and finely chop/grate garlic.

2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan on medium heat. Once hot, add the onions, peppers and garlic to the saucepan, cook for about 5 minutes, stirring every now and then until onions have started to soften.

3. Add the chicken breast to the saucepan with the stock, cans of tomato and chipotle (also add dried chipotle pepper if using). Make sure the chicken is completely covered, if you need more liquid, add water to the empty tomato cans and add to the pot.

4. Bring to the boil and season with salt, pepper and sugar.

5. Cook for 25 minutes covered, on a low-medium heat until the chicken is cooked completely.

6. Remove the chicken from the pot and continue cooking the sauce.

7. Using two forks, shred each chicken breast and add back to the pot. Cook for another 5-10 minutes on a gentle simmer.

8. Serve simply with rice or make it extra special with fresh salsa (tomatoes and onions chopped and mixed with lime juice, sugar, salt and coriander), guacamole, coriander all stuffed into a taco or burrito and topped with sour cream and grated cheese.