Chilate de Pollo de la Costa Chica

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart stockpot
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting chiles and tomatoes
• •High-powered blender
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Medium saucepan for the rice
• •Deep bowls for serving (clay or jicara if available)

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the chicken broth

   Place the chicken pieces in a large pot. Cover with 10 cups of cold water. Add the halved garlic head, quartered onion, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Skim the foam that rises in the first ten minutes. Cold water is not a suggestion. It pulls the flavor out of the bones slowly. Boiling water seals the surface and gives you a thin, cloudy broth with no depth.

   A hen (gallina de rancho) is the traditional choice in the Costa Chica. It takes longer to cook, up to two hours, but the broth is richer and the meat has more flavor. If you can find one at a Mexican market, use it. If not, a whole chicken works. Boneless chicken breast does not.
2. 2

   Simmer the chicken

   Reduce heat until the broth barely moves. You want lazy bubbles every few seconds. Cover partially and simmer for 45 minutes to one hour, until the chicken is cooked through and tender. If using a hen, allow a full two hours. Remove the chicken pieces and set them aside. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot and discard the spent garlic, onion, and bay leaves. You should have about 8 cups of clean, golden broth.

3. 3

   Toast the chiles and spices

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium. Toast the chile costeño rojo and amarillo, pressing them flat with a spatula, about 15 seconds per side. They are small and thin. They burn in seconds. The moment they puff and release a sharp, fruity, smoky smell, pull them off. In the same comal, toast the cloves, cinnamon stick, peppercorns, and cumin seeds for about 30 seconds, shaking the pan, until they smell warm and fragrant. Do not walk away from the comal. Burned spices are bitter spices and there is no way back.

   Chile costeño is small, thin-skinned, and fruity with a sharp bite. It is not the same as chile de arbol, though people outside Guerrero sometimes substitute it. Arbol is hotter and one-dimensional. Costeño has a brightness, almost citrusy, that defines this broth. If you cannot find it, a mix of chile guajillo (for body) and chile de arbol (for heat) is the closest compromise, but it is a compromise.
4. 4

   Soak the chiles

   Place the toasted chiles in a small bowl and cover with hot tap water. Let them soften for 15 minutes. They will not need long. Costeño chiles are thin and rehydrate quickly. Do not use boiling water. Boiling cooks the skin and pushes the flavor toward bitter.

5. 5

   Roast the tomatoes

   While the chiles soak, place the whole tomatoes on the hot comal. Let them char on all sides, turning with tongs, about 8 to 10 minutes total. You want deep black blisters and soft, collapsing flesh. The charring concentrates the sweetness and adds a smoky note that balances the sharp bite of the costeño.

6. 6

   Blend the sauce

   Drain the soaked chiles and place them in a blender. Add the toasted spices, the chopped ginger, the 3 peeled garlic cloves, the chopped half onion, the charred tomatoes, and one cup of the chicken broth. Blend on high until completely smooth. The ginger should disappear into the sauce, not sit in chunks. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on the solids. Discard the skins. The strained sauce should be a deep rust-red, thin, and fragrant with ginger and clove.

   The ginger is not optional. It is the ingredient that places this dish on the Costa Chica and not somewhere else in Guerrero. Without it, you have a chile costeño chicken broth. With it, you have chilate.
7. 7

   Fry the sauce and build the broth

   Heat the lard in the pot with the strained chicken broth over medium. When it shimmers, pour in the strained chile sauce. It will sputter and hiss. Let it fry in the lard for three to four minutes, stirring constantly, until the color darkens slightly and the raw edge of the chiles cooks off. Then stir the sauce into the rest of the broth. Bring to a gentle simmer. Taste for salt. The broth should be thin, not thick. This is caldo, not mole. The flavor is in the clarity: you taste the chile, then the ginger, then the clove in layers. If the broth is muddy, you did not strain well enough.

8. 8

   Return the chicken

   Place the chicken pieces back into the broth. Simmer for 15 minutes on low heat so the meat absorbs the chile and spice. The chicken should be warmed through and stained with the red broth. If you are using a whole chicken, you can remove the skin now or leave it. In the Costa Chica, they leave it.

9. 9

   Cook the white rice

   While the broth simmers, rinse the rice in cold water until the water runs clear. In a medium saucepan, heat a teaspoon of lard over medium. Add the rice and stir for two minutes until the grains are coated and smell toasty. Add 3 cups of water and a teaspoon of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to the lowest heat, cover tightly, and cook for 18 minutes without lifting the lid. Remove from heat and let it sit covered for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork. The rice is not a side dish. It is the foundation of the bowl.

10. 10

    Assemble and serve

    Mound a generous scoop of white rice in the center of each deep bowl. Place a piece or two of chicken alongside the rice. Scatter cubes of ripe avocado over the top. Ladle the hot red broth over everything, enough to come halfway up the rice. The broth melts the surface of the avocado and warms it without turning it to mush. Serve with lime wedges and warm corn tortillas. Cada estado, su propia cocina. This bowl belongs to the Costa Chica and nobody else.

Chef Tips

• •Chile costeño is the soul of this dish. It grows along the Guerrero and Oaxaca coast and is sold dried in small bags at regional markets. Look for it at Mexican grocery stores that stock Guerrero and Oaxaca products, or order it online from vendors who specialize in dried Mexican chiles. Buy the red (rojo) for the base and, if you find them, add a couple of the yellow (amarillo) for a brighter note.
• •The ginger, clove, and cinnamon in this recipe are the African fingerprint on this coast's cooking. Do not reduce or skip them. They are not background flavors. The ginger especially should be present in every spoonful. If you cannot taste ginger in the finished broth, you did not use enough.
• •Cut the avocado just before serving. It goes into the bowl raw, in clean cubes, and the hot broth does the rest. Do not cook the avocado. Do not mash it. The texture of cool, creamy avocado against hot, sharp broth is the point.
• •Preguntale a las senoras del mercado: in the Costa Chica, they often serve chilate in jicara bowls, the dried gourd shells used as vessels across southern Mexico. If you have one, use it. The shape holds the broth and rice in the right proportion.

Advance Preparation

• •The chicken broth and chile sauce can be made one day ahead and refrigerated separately. Combine, reheat, and return the chicken to the pot on serving day. The flavors of ginger and clove deepen overnight.
• •Cook the rice fresh on serving day. Day-old rice absorbs too much broth and turns soft. You want each grain distinct.
• •Cut the avocado only at the moment of serving. It oxidizes fast and the contrast of cool avocado and hot broth is the architecture of this bowl.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 650g)