Name: Potato-Stuffed Oven-Braised Chicken (Pollo Relleno de Papas)
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons achiote paste; ¼ cup cider vinegar diluted in 2 cups water; 1 large ripe tomato, peeled and chopped; 3 dried avocado leaves, crumbled; ¼ teaspoon ground cloves; 1 teaspoon salt or to taste, plus more for the stuffing; 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper; 6 guajillo chiles, tops, seeds, and veins removed; One 4½- to 5-pound chicken; 2 large Red Bliss or other waxy boiling potatoes (about 1 pound); 1 small onion, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; 2 teaspoons dried Oaxacan oregano or 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano; 2 large garlic cloves, minced

Preparation info

6 to 8
servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Food and Life of Oaxaca

By Zarela Martínez

Published 1997

About

Every time I’ve been to the market at Juchitán I’ve found quite a few women selling this dish—except, for some reason, on my most recent 1996 visit, when I heard stories of shortages and hardly a chicken was to be found anywhere. The traditional presentation is very dramatic. The juchitecas like to use hens with unborn eggs inside them. They sell the cooked chickens split open lengthwise to reveal the eggs, which have taken on the earthy red of the achiote mixture used to coat the bi