Spicy Caribbean Style Oven Baked Chicken

This is a different way to do traditional Caribbean stewed chicken. In Jamaica this is known as Fricassee Chicken or Brown Stew Chicken. This version is spicy, and has a nice thick sauce that is perfect to spoon over a serving of rice and peas. It is usually served with fried or baked ripe plantains, and a green salad of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. After the first baking, this dish may also be completed in a slow cooker but the time to completion will obviously be longer.

Some ingredients

Ingredients

3 1/2 lb chicken meat (Legs, thighs, breast, with skin or skinless)

Grace Caribbean All Purpose seasoning

Worcester sauce

1 Tablespoon thick soya sauce (if not available substitute 1/2 tablespoon dark soya sauce and 1/2 tablespoon molasses)

1 tablespoon Grace Jerk Seasoning

2 medium yellow onions

6 cloves garlic

3 vine ripened tomatoes

1/4 cup white cooking wine

8 whole allspice berries

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 Habanero chili pepper, left whole

Small red bell pepper cut in slices (optional)

1-2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons cooking oil
Method

1. With a sharp knife, make cuts in the chicken pieces down to bone. This allows the seasonings to coat the meat better. Sprinkle each chicken piece liberally with the all purpose seasoning.

2. Place chicken pieces in a 1 gallon Ziploc storage bag, and add a couple of dashes of Worcester sauce, the thick soya sauce (or substitute) and the jerk seasoning. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight. 

3. The next day, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil to the chicken and place in an oven proof baking dish. Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake chicken, uncovered for 45 minutes. 
4. While the chicken is baking, coarsely chop onions, garlic and tomatoes.

Heat the other tablespoon cooking oil in a frying pan or wok, and fry the onion and garlic until the onion pieces become translucent. Add the tomato pieces and fry until the tomato skin starts to peel off. Remove from heat and blend all to a puree.

5. Remove chicken from oven, and put the chicken pieces in another bowl. Drain off as much of the oil as you wish, leaving the dark sauce at the bottom of the baking dish. Mix in the puree, thyme, and add the whole Habanero chili to the mixture. Place the chicken pieces back in the dish and coat well with the mixture. Add the cooking wine and tomato paste at this point, mixing well. Add the sliced red bell pepper at this point if you wish to include that as an option.

6. Cover the baking dish with foil. Decrease the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake for 1 hour.

7. Remove baking dish from oven. Uncover the dish, and discard the Habanero chili pepper, taking care not to burst it. Carefully mix the chicken and sauce together ensuring that the chicken pieces remain intact. Increase the oven temperature again to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and bake, uncovered for another 15-20 minutes until the volume of sauce has decreased and the sauce has thickened.