chili coco chicken

category: main dish
serving: makes 2-3 servings

i'm sitting in the dining table wondering what to do with the remaining 5 chicken wings other that making fried chicken and a dish that makuy would eat. makuy's been a picky eater since he turned 3. i don't want to keep on giving him always what he likes, fried chicken, lechon kawali, adobong manok, and others like that (what kids usually likes eats). so i scanned my printout recipes i got from the net. and then i found this recipe of pinoycook, olympic chili coco chicken. it's a simple dish and i believe that the simple the dish the more flavor there is. and somehow i would not complicate the taste buds of makuy. if he doesn't like the smell, he will not taste; therefore, he won't eat it.

but the recipe calls for dried terragon, "hhmmm... what is that?"... that's the first thing that entered my mind. i'm not familiar with terragon, what kind of taste does it give? hehehe... sorry... not so much with spices and i didn't have time to search the net. i don't know what to substitute it with. so, as i was preparing the chicken with the marinate, i was still thinking what to put in place of the terragon. i saw bay leaves, i took one and crumbled it into tiny pieces with the chicken. i'm now wondering how it will turn out. hahaha... well... it turned out well and the good thing there was that makuy ate his share and kim likes it, too. one of these days i'll try this recipe again and i'll make sure i have the dried terragon and i'll compare the taste. the recipe also calls for simmering the chicken thighs and drumsticks for an hour to an hour and a half. i simmered mine for 45 minutes only since i'm using chicken wings and only a few pieces.

ingredients:
5 pcs. chicken wings cut into half
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 thumb-size ginger, grated
1 bay leaf
2 siling haba
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 cup coconut cream

procedure:
place the chicken in a bowl together with the salt, pepper, garlic, ginger and bay leaf. mix well with your hands. cover with cling film and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

arrange the chicken in a single layer in a preheated non-stick wok or frying pan (preheating the pan will make the chicken render fat quickly and you won’t have to add any cooking oil at all) and cook over high heat to brown.

when they have browned moderately, remove them with a slotted spoon and pour off the oil rendered from the chicken skins. be careful not to pour off any ginger or garlic. Tten, return the chicken pieces to the pan.

add siling haba and diced tomatoes. you can used canned tomatoes if you like.

next, pour in coconut cream. stir everything gently and bring to a soft boil. lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer for an 45 minutes.

note: the dish would taste much better if let sited for a couple of hours or overnight in the fridge if possible, to allow the flavors to develop fully.