Serve this spicy chicken hot, cold or room temperature. I particularly like it served room temperature as part of a salad. Achiote, also known as annatto, is a spice associated often with Mexican cooking but its also found in Caribbean, Asian and African cuisines. It has a deep slightly bitter peppery flavour which is quite unlike any other spice. It also imparts a lovely deep yellow/orange colour to foods. Its often mixed with souring ingredients which help release its full flavour.
I used strawberries (in part) as a souring agent here which is probably unusual, but I think the result is interesting as the floral notes of strawberry can be detected in the final result. I also ‘cheated’ by using a ready made achiote paste which is mix of achiote with other spices and herbs. You can make it from scratch if you prefer.
I cooked the chicken ‘en papillote’ which not only saves on washing-up but helps keep the chicken breasts from becoming too dry.
Ingredients
350g boneless chicken breasts (2 large chicken breasts)
25g achiote paste ( I used El Yucataco achiote paste)
Splash of wine vinegar
100g strawberries
1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1 jalapeno pepper, sliced
4 red birds eye chillies
Slices of lemon or lime
Method
I used strawberries (in part) as a souring agent here which is probably unusual, but I think the result is interesting as the floral notes of strawberry can be detected in the final result. I also ‘cheated’ by using a ready made achiote paste which is mix of achiote with other spices and herbs. You can make it from scratch if you prefer.
I cooked the chicken ‘en papillote’ which not only saves on washing-up but helps keep the chicken breasts from becoming too dry.
Ingredients
350g boneless chicken breasts (2 large chicken breasts)
25g achiote paste ( I used El Yucataco achiote paste)
Splash of wine vinegar
100g strawberries
1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1 tsp salt
1 jalapeno pepper, sliced
4 red birds eye chillies
Slices of lemon or lime
Method
- Mix the achiote paste with the vinegar until smooth.
- Purée the strawberries (I used a stick blender).
- Mix together the achiote paste, strawberry purée, Kashmiri chilli powder and salt to make a marinade.
- Cover the chicken breasts with the marinade and leave for at least 4 hours or overnight.
- Heat the oven to 180C
- Place each chicken breast with the marinade on a large sheet of foil or foil lined with baking paper. Turn up the edges of the foil slightly. Add the chillies and lemon or lime slices.
- Place another sheet of foil over the top to make a tent. Crimp the edges of the foil together all round, to form a seal. Bake for 35 mins.
- Open the papillote and use a culinary blowtorch to lightly char the top of the chicken (optional).