Pollo En Crema: Spicy Salvadorian Chicken Soup

Submitted by Like The Vegetable

"from Chef John over at foodwishes.blogspot.com, purportedly a rendition of his favorite Salvadorian dish from Aunt Mary's restaurant in San Fran. DH just keeps getting better and better at making this, but I got curious enough about the nutrition facts to keep it here on zaar. Beware: even with cream in the title, this is no soup for sissies. Those chile oils swirling atop your stewpot are lovely, but deceptively spicy. Skim them if you like, but it'll still be muy picante!"

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 15mins
• Ingredients: 15
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 1 big chicken (4 lbs ideal)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 red bell peppers, chopped or julienned
• 2 jalapenos, sliced
• 2 roma tomatoes, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 bay leaf
• cayenne pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sour cream or 1 cup Mexican crema
• salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• 1⁄2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

directions

1. Place whole chicken in the bottom of a large stewpot. Pour in chicken broth and water.
2. Add the sour cream, chopped onion, peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, garlic, and your spices. Don't worry about the sour cream curdling--it will smooth out in the last cooking step.
3. Cover and simmer on low for 1 hour.
4. Lift the lid, turn the chicken over, and recover. Simmer for another 30 minutes.
5. Remove chicken from simmering stock (crema). Allow to cool.
6. In the meantime, turn up the heat under the crema to high. When it's boiling you may skim off the fat/ super spicy oils.
7. Cut the cooled chicken into serving pieces. Make sure to pull little bits from the bones as well. Put chicken pieces back into the pot with the hot crema.
8. Stir in a large handful of chopped cilantro.
9. Serve this beautifully simple soup with Spanish rice and a side of beans.