Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
- 8 Chicken pieces or a whole Chicken cut in pieces
- 3 dried Ancho chilli
- 5-6 Dried Guajillo Chillis
- 5 Dried Puya Chillis
- ½ small Onion cut in half
- 2 Large Roma Tomatoes cut in quarters
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 2 T Vegetable Oil
- 1½ t Thyme (+ or - to taste)
- 1½ t Ground Cumin (+ or - to taste)
- 2 t Dry Oregano (+ or - to taste)
- Salt to taste
- Ground Black pepper to taste
Remove the stems and seeds from all the dry chillis. Set the chillis aside for a minute.
In a large skillet or griddle, on medium-high heat, heat up one tablespoon of vegetable oil, then cook the onion, tomatoes and garlic for about 3-5 minutes or until they soften a bit. Stir frequently so they wont burn! Once they are soften, remove them from the skillet.
In that same skillet, add another tablespoon of vegetable oil, reduce the heat to low, and now toast the dry chillis for about 30-40 seconds, stirring constantly to avoid burning them. After 30-40 seconds, the chilis should be toasted on all sides, so turn off the heat and bring in the rest of the ingredients back into the skillet, (onion, tomatoes and garlic) add two cups of hot water to cover all the ingredients, cover the skillet with a lid, and let all the ingredients soak in the hot water for about 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, the chillis should be softer, so now place everything in a blender, in the blender also add in all the liquid in which you soak the peppers, season this with thyme, cumin, oregano salt and pepper to taste, blend on high for about 5 minutes or until everything is well combined into a very smooth sauce. Once everything is blended, taste the flavor and add more salt and pepper if needed.
In a small container, save (reserve) about 1½ cups of the dry chili sauce, (this will be for serving).
Place the chicken in a baking dish, now with a small knife poke the chicken pieces a couple times each, then pour the dry chilli sauce over the chicken, massage this sauce very well onto the chicken pieces, then marinate for at least three hours before cooking.
After three hours or so, preheat the oven to 350ºF (if you have more time, marinate the chicken for as long as you can!)
Bake the chicken at 350ºF for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, set the oven temperature to 450ºF.
Remove the chicken from the oven, and baste it with the cooking liquid. Place back in the oven and continue baking at 450ºF for 20 more minutes or until the chicken is well cooked.
The internal temperature of the cooked chicken pieces should be of 165ºF.
Once the chicken comes out of the oven, baste it again with the cooking liquid, then serve. This goes great with any kind of rice, pasta or couscous. Don't forget to serve with more Chili Sauce on top!
The left overs make a delicious salad or sandwich!
Enjoy!
