Chicken and Plantain Moqueca

This is a tame version of the traditional seafood moqueca. The plantain brings a soft sweetness and plenty of starch to the stew. Some recipes call for green plantains, which are treated like a potato, but true Brazilians prefer to eat their plantains ripe or semi-ripe, when the fruit has a fuller balance of sweetness and starch, and carries more juice. This is a straightforward braising dish that takes a bit longer than the fish version (about 1½ hours), but when you taste the dynam