Pollo al Pil Pil with potatoes

SouthAmerica November 30, 2017March 3, 2021 Chilean recipe, merken, Pollo al pil pil, south america to the world, southamericatotheworld, Yanira K. Wise

After living a few months in Santiago de Chile, it´s no surprise we learned soon enough what typical dishes were our favorites, and Pollo al Pil Pil is one of them. The best place in Santiago to try this dish is the Liguria Restaurant. There are several locations in the city; the one location that we often visited is located in Providencia off to the Tobalaba metro station.

I had some difficulty recreating this dish because I couldn´t find one of the main ingredients, Merken. This is a Mapuche word or to be more precise is a Mapudungun word, the language of the Mapuche people, and Merken is the distinct ingredient in their food. This Chilean spice consists of smoked chili pepper that uses “Cacho de Cabra,” a type of pepper that grows in Chile. The pepper is dried and smoked then ground, making a powder.

I couldn´t find Merken here in Colorado, but this past September we got to travel to Seattle, and while visiting the downtown market we found a little shop with Latin American products that carried packets of Merken. I was so excited about finding this ingredient that as soon as we got back I started trying to make this Chilean recipe at home. As usual it took several attempts. I hope you like it as much as we do. Jim´s favorite dish in Chile was “Pollo al Pil Pil.”

Notes:

The original recipe requires fresh chili Cacho de cabra, since we don´t have it here I am adding Merken powder to the dish to add some flavor and color.

We usually had this Chilean stew served with a good helping of mashed potatoes called “puré picante”, but this time we added diced potatoes to the dish making it easy to cook it all in one pot.

Some people like to add shrimp to this dish right before is completely done, so if you like chicken and shrimp together go ahead and try it this way.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts cut in 1.5 inches

4 garlic cloves sliced

4 medium-sized potatoes cut in 1.5 inches

1 bottle of white wine (I like to cook with Beringer and this time I used Sauvignon Blanc)

Olive oil

Parsley finely chopped to garnish (about 1 tbsp.)

Merken

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation:

Season the chicken pieces with merken, salt and pepper, leave aside.

In a frying pan add the olive oil enough to cover the pan, once it is warm add the seasoned chicken and brown on all sides. You could do this in batches until all the chicken pieces are browned.

Then add the garlic until fragrant, then add the wine, mix and integrate the potatoes, add the Merken powder and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling lower the heat and simmer until done. This usually takes 20 to 30 minutes it all depends on the potatoes so try them to make sure they are cooked all the way.

Once the chicken and potatoes are cooked add the parsley to add some color to the dish.

To serve Pollo al Pil Pil use a rustic clay bowl or plato de greda as known in Chile, along with a bread roll.

If possible serve this dish with Chilean white wine.

Enjoy!