Chili and Coconut Chicken Peruvian Style

This braised chili and coconut chicken Peruvian style, with the flavors of aji amarillo chilies and coconut is an outstanding dish that’s full of complex flavor. Slightly spicy and slightly sweet it tastes like you’ve been working all day but the secret is the actual active time is only 20 minutes. Made with squash and peas and cilantro this chicken is our new favorite.

The last ten days have flown by as Alex Odie San China Boy graced us with his presence. During that time we flew to Phoenix for a few days, celebrated Valentine’s Day together, ate Korean food where he also showed us the proper way to drink Soju, complete with elbow banging, and did a short food tour of Denver in the hopes of coercing him back. Of course we did way more than that but I’m to exhausted to write about it! He is now flying back to Shanghai and then to Seoul where he seems to be spending as much time as in China.

During our food tour we stopped at The Denver Central Market and devoured chocolate Kouign Amann and cinnamon rolls then on to Berkeley and il Porcellino Salumi for some in house cured meat-try the shaved bacon sandwich, then on to Candela Latin Kitchen and lastly to Union Station where we drank great gin and tonics from Ultreia. Alex had the Death Star, I had the Broken Spanish and Manservant the Rudy Ruby. Oh my! Can’t wait to go back to all of them! At Candela I finally tried mofongo and their black sea bass ceviche with aji amarillo reminded me I had just used these in this chicken dish that I just had made. Alex asked what aji amarillo was and I didn’t have a good answer…but I do now.

Aji Amarillo are yellow, somewhat spicy chilies with a fruity citrusy flavor from Peru. Their heat is similar to a serrano but a serrano lacks the citrusy taste. A habanero gives the citrusy taste but bumps the heat up considerably. Your best bet for a true flavor is to find aji amarillo paste. This wasn’t easy to do but Kroger has both aji amarillo hot sauce and a paste that comes in a tube. They have added flavors in with the chilies but in the case of this chicken they tasted fine. I am now on the search for the “just chile” version but I have no doubt that whatever you choose, you will fall in love with this chicken!

Chili and Coconut Chicken Peruvian Style...This braised chicken with the flavors of aji amarillo chilies and coconut is an outstanding dish that's full of complex flavor. Slightly spicy and slightly sweet it tastes like you've been working all day but the secret is the actual active time is only 20 minutes. Made with squash and peas and cilantro this chicken is our new favorite. #PeruvianRecipes #chicken www.thisishowicook.com

This chicken is browned in coconut oil and flavored with lots of garlic, coconut milk and chilies. Then it’s as simple as adding some thick slices of squash, gorgeous green peas and cilantro, and letting this bake until the chicken is cooked through and the squash is tender-about 45 minutes. It can then be served over rice or potatoes or in my case…egg noodles. Not traditional but definitely good. Next time around I may even serve this over mofongo which is a dish consisting of fried smashed plantains mixed with cracklings. I knew you’d want to know!

Enjoy this chicken from Peru. It’s perfect on a chilly night and it might even work with Sujo. But then again I’m guessing it doesn’t really matter what you have with that!

A Few More Peruvian Recipes from other great bloggers! I can’t wait to try them all!

Sea Bass Ceviche from Boulder Locavore

Yucca Latkes with Aji Amarillo from Little Ferraro Kitchen

Peruvian Bean Bowl with Red Pepper Sauce and Fried Plantains from Eats Well With Others

My Top Peruvian Recipes:

Grilled Peruvian Chicken

Peruvian Green Sauce (totally addicting)

I love it when you pin and share:

Yield: 4 ServingsAuthor: Abbe OdenwalderPrint Recipe

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Chili and Coconut Chicken Peruvian Style

This braised chicken with the flavors of aji amarillo chilies and coconut is an outstanding dish that’s full of complex flavor. Made with squash and peas and cilantro this chicken is our new favorite.

prep time: 20 MINScook time: 45 MINStotal time: 65 mins

ingredients:

2 T coconut oil
4 bone in, skin on chicken thighs or 2 large chicken breasts
Kosher salt to taste
1/2 large yellow onion sliced
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 can coconut milk
1/4 to 1/2 c aji amarillo paste (I used a tube from Kroger and it had more than chilies in it, but it still tasted great)
1 1/4 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 ” chunks or slices
3/4 c fresh or frozen peas
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro-leaves and tender stems
Rice, Noodles, Potatoes to Serve with

instructions

Preheat oven to 350 and adjust rack to lower middle position.
Add coconut oil to a 6 quart Dutch oven or another heavy oven safe pot. Heat over medium high heat until oil shimmers. Season chicken with salt and sear skin side down until golden-about 4 minutes. Flip and sear on other side until brown. If using breasts this may take a bit longer. Remove chicken and set aside. Drain any excess fat from pot and lower heat to medium.
Add sliced onion and garlic to pot and scrape up any browned bits from the chicken and cook until translucent and tender, about 5 minutes.
Increase heat to high, then add coconut milk, aji amarillo and squash. Bring to a simmer. Test seasoning for salt. Return chicken to pot along with any accumulated juices, resting the chicken skin side up on top of squash so that the skin remains above the surface of the liquid.
Transfer pot to oven and bake uncovered until chicken is cooked through and squash is tender, about 45 minutes.
Remove from oven and stir in peas and cilantro. Serve over rice potatoes or noodle and perhaps mofongo.

notes

Adapted from Serious Eats.

Created using The Recipes Generator

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SavoringTime in the Kitchen

Tuesday 6th of March 2018

So glad you had such a wonderful visit with Alex! I loved the video and I can almost picture you drinking your Soji Bombs and smiling ;) Your Peruvian chicken sounds so flavorful!

Sue/the view from great island

Sunday 4th of March 2018

I can't wait to try this Abbe, I know next to nothing about Peruvian food!

Nammi

love this, the addition of that chilli, and coconut nut yummm. Never heard of it it sounds a lot similar to scotch bonnet, which also has a fruity sort of smell when cooked. have a nice weekend

Sippity Sup

Saturday 3rd of March 2018

Love the combo of aji amarillo chilies and coconut. I've become a real Peruvian food fan too. I even have the aji paste in my pantry. However, if I look very hard and get very lucky I've even found fresh aji peppers here in Los Angeles and once made my own paste. Great recipe here... GREG

Abbe Odenwalder

Go for it! This is so quick and good!

GiGi Eats

Friday 2nd of March 2018

So the other night Landon insisted we MAKE A RECIPE IN THE CROCK POT TOGETHER involving the chicken that had been sitting in the freezer for about 2 months. I agreed even though all I really wanted was salmon - and we made a recipe that was literally chicken and a jar of salsa. It was edible, and fine but mannnnn all I really wanted was my glorious salmon. THAT being said - I really really wish I had seen this recipe prior to us deciding what to do with this chicken because THIS RECIPE sounds BOMBBBB! But now I don't know that I want chicken for awhile, LOL!