Pollo en Jocón - Tomatillo Chicken Stew

Pollo en Jocón is a traditional chicken dish from Guatemala, with a flavorful bright green sauce made from tomatillos, cilantro, green pepper and jalapeños. It is properly served over white rice topped with fresh avocado slices.

I know what you are thinking, or at least I know what I was thinking when I first saw the name of this delicious stew from the Mayan culture. Pollo means chicken so jocón must be their word for tomatillo. Nope. 

According to New York Times Cooking, the name jocón comes from jok’, meaning to grind or mash in Mayan K’iche’.  Although the dish’s origins are indeed Mayan, some of its ingredients today, like sesame seeds and chicken, were likely introduced by Spanish colonizers.

Pollo en Jocón - Tomatillo Chicken Stew

Depending on how spicy you like your food, the jalapeños can be eliminated altogether or you can remove the seeds and membranes before mincing. If you can't find fresh tomatillos, canned are fine. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs or 672g boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 lb or 450g fresh tomatillos, husked

5 cups or 1.2L chicken stock

1⁄4 cup or 35g pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

2 tablespoons or 14g white sesame seeds

2 corn tortillas

1/2 bunch cilantro, washed and roughly chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 large garlic cloves

1 large green pepper

1 medium white onion

1-2 fresh jalapeños

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method

Place the chicken and tomatillos in a large pot with the chicken stock. 

Bring to a gentle boil then cover the pot and simmer over a low heat for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through. 

In a dry non-stick pan over medium toast the pumpkin seeds, moving them constantly for three to five minutes. Add the sesame seeds and continue tossing for 2 more minutes until they are very lightly browned. 

Remove from heat immediately so they don’t continue browning.

Put the toasted pumpkin seeds and toasted sesame seeds into a blender (or clean coffee grinder) and pulse for 5 or 10 seconds, until they are ground. (You may need to stir a bit between pulses) Scrape into a small bowl or cup, and set aside. 

Peel and chop your garlic and onion. Remove the seeds and ribs from the green pepper and chop it roughly. Chop the jalapeños, if using. (See note above the ingredient list.)

Add the olive oil to a large pan. Sauté the garlic, green pepper, onion and jalapeños, stirring frequently, until the onion and peppers are soft. Remove from heat.

With a slotted spoon remove the chicken from the pot and set aside. Once cool enough to handle, use forks to shred the chicken. 

Remove tomatillos from the broth and put them in the blender. 

Rip the tortillas into pieces and put them in a small heatproof bowl. Pour about 1 cup or 240ml of the chicken broth from the pot over the tortillas and set them aside to soak till softened. 

Pinch any hard stems off of the cilantro and discard them along with any brown leaves. 

Add the cilantro, 1 1/2 cups or 360ml of the chicken broth, all of the bell pepper and onion mixture and the soaked tortillas (with their broth) to the tomatillos in the blender. 

Purée until smooth. Pour that gorgeous green sauce back into a pan. Use a little more of the stock to rinse the blender to make sure you get all of the sauce into the pan. (You can use the remaining broth to make the rice or save it for another recipe.) 

Add the ground toasted seeds to the pan. 

Bring the contents of the pan to a boil. Lower to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered for 10 minutes to thicken the sauce. 

Add the shredded chicken to the thickened sauce.

Simmer gently for an additional 10 minutes or until the chicken is warmed through again. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. 

Serve the tomatillo chicken stew over white rice with some cilantro for garnish and a few slices of avocado. This dish is so flavorful and the avocado is the perfect topping to complement its spicy freshness. No wonder it's traditional. 

Enjoy!  

If you are a fan of tomatillos, you might also enjoy my Chicken Chili Verde made in an Instant Pot with white beans and the special little tomatillos from Melissa’s Produce called tomatillos milperos

 

It's Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with avocados. Many thanks to our host, Sneha of Sneha's Recipe. 

• Avocado Chicken by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Green Salad With Avocado Dressing by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Keto Bacon Wrapped Avocado Fries by Sneha's Recipe
• Papas con Salsa de Aguacate by Culinary Cam
• Smooth Guacamole by Amy's Cooking Adventures 
• Spicy Avocado Coriander Chutney by Cook with Renu
• Pollo en Jocón - Tomatillo Chicken Stew by Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Tomatillo Chicken Stew!

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