Fritada de Gallina (Tender Chicken Dish)

Fritada literally means fried, but this Ecuadorian dish is not fried chicken. It is a chicken dish cooked slowly in a flavorful sauce and makes a very tender, fall-off-the-bone chicken. This is the second time I made it since I found it at Laylita's Recipes. You should look around at her delish recipes! The first time I made this, I made them with llampingachos, but today I just chopped up some potatoes and added them at the last bit of cooking since I didn't have much time. I forgot to take a photo of it plated with the rice, fried plantains and salad, so you get the skillet shot.  

Laylita's recipe calls for chicha, which is a fermented corn drink, but I use chicken broth and it turns out great. I didn't cook the sauce down as much this time (in the photo below) as she does or brown the chicken as much. Go take a look at hers because it's really good prepared that way too.

Fritada de Gallina

5 lb chicken, assorted pieces

1 c. chicken broth 

2 c. orange juice

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch ground cloves

2 t. ground cumin

1 ½ heads of garlic

1/4 c. chopped cilantro

1 white onion, cut in large chunks

Salt  & pepper to taste

Mix the chicken broth, orange juice, garlic and spices. Marinate the chicken pieces in the liquid marinade mix for at least 1-2 hours or overnight.

Put the chicken and the marinade in a wok or a large, deep sauté pan. Add the chunks of white onion and the cilantro. Cook over medium heat, should be boiling most of the time, for about 1 ½ hours or until the liquid starts to reduce, stir occasionally.

 

Continue cooking for another 30 minutes, but keep a close eye on it from this point, stir more frequently. Reduce the heat to low until the liquid is gone and a small amount of grease (from the chicken) replaces the liquid. Stir frequently to keep the chicken from burning and cook for about 20-25 minutes or until the chicken pieces are browned.