Name: Braised Chicken in Spicy Fruit Sauce (Manchamanteles de Pollo)
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 1½ teaspoons ground true (Ceylon) cinnamon, preferably freshly ground in a spice grinder, or ½ teaspoon ground U.S. “cinnamon”; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1 to 2 tablespoons butter, optional; 1 to 2 medium-size tart apples, such as Granny Smith, cored and cut into eighths; 1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, with juice; 1 to 2 teaspoons salt, or to taste; 1 medium-size onion, sliced into thin half-moons (about 1 cup); ½ to 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or to taste, plus a little more for seasoning chicken; 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano, crumbled; ½ cup dried apricots, sliced; ¾ cup pitted dried prunes, whole or sliced; ½ cup golden raisins; 1 can (20 ounces) unsweetened pineapple chunks, with juice; 2 bay leaves; ⅔ to ¾ cup vegetable oil; Cinnamon sugar, made with 1 tablespoon sugar to 1 teaspoon (or to taste) ground cinnamon, optional; ¼ to ⅓ teaspoon ground cloves; 1 large ripe plantain, peeled and sliced, optional; 2 large garlic cloves, minced; 1 tablespoon cider vinegar; 2 chickens (about 3½ pounds each), each cut into 6 to 8 pieces; 1 cup Adobo de Chile Colorado; ½ cup dry sherry or red wine

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Food from My Heart

By Zarela Martínez

Published 1992

About

This was one of the first dishes I tasted that piqued my curiosity about food from other parts of Mexico, I was introduced to it in my high school years, when we were living in Agua Prieta and I would come home on weekends. Often we would have Sunday meals with my parents’ dear friends the Orozcos, who came from the distant and mysterious state of Chiapas. Through them I became partly acquainted with what was to me an exotic cuisine. The Orozcos fed us manchamanteles, which means “ta