Jamaican Brown Stew Chicken

Step 1

In a large bowl add in chicken along with 2 Tbsp oil, salt, pepper, onion, bell peppers, carrots, scallions, ginger, garlic, pimento berries, soy sauce, browning sauce, thyme, scotch bonnet pepper, all-purpose seasoning, smoked paprika. Use your hands (wear gloves while handling scotch bonnet pepper) to massage the chicken pieces well with spices and aromatics and make sure they are nicely coated.

Step 2

Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or overnight is the best.

Step 3

When ready to cook, heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade mixture, shaking off excess onion/bell pepper/scallion bits. Do not discard the marinade, set it aside. Sear the chicken pieces in batches without crowding on all sides, turning occasionally, until golden brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Plate them out.

Step 4

In the same pan, add all the veggies and aromatics from the marinade and cook them for 5-6 minutes until they begin to soften. Add back the chicken pieces along with all the reserved marinade liquids and 1 cup of water. Mix everything well. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Step 5

Add in tomato ketchup and diced tomato, mix and again cover and cook for 30-35 minutes, or until chicken is fall off the bone tender, stirring occasionally. During this time, if you like more sauce, you can add 1 or more cups of water. Taste and adjust for salt. Sometimes I like more soy sauce, so I stir in about 1 Tbsp additional soy sauce into the stew. Alternately, if you want thicker stew, you can cook it without the cover over medium high heat until the stew reaches your desired consistency.

Step 6

Garnish it with chopped parsley and served immediately with Jamaican rice and peas and stir fried Jamaican cabbage.