Monday, July 14, 2008

Mollejas En Chile Verde (Chicken Gizzards in Green Chili)

Mollejas En Chile Verde (Chicken Gizzards in Green Chili)

I am not FOND of this dish, but my mother is.
I prefer making it with cubed chicken breast or a whole chicken cleaned and cut into sections or cubed pork chunks. I just don't appreciate the chewiness of the "Mollejas" a.k.a. Chicken gizzards, but for those that do give this recipe a try ;)

Ingredients:-1 ½ lb.Chicken Gizzards (Mollejas)
-Water (enough to cover Chicken Gizzards)
-Salt and Pepper to taste
-2 Fresh Serrano Chili Peppers
-3 cups chopped FRESH "tomatillos" NOT tomatoes (though I think you'll still get good results if you used tomatoes but then again the sauce wouldn't be green and it will taste different)
-3 cloves peeled garlic cloves
-1 cup finely chopped cilantro
-½ minced onion
-1-2 tsp. Chicken Bouillon

Directions:
(1)Clean Chicken gizzards by rubbing with limes while rinsing, removing any unwanted parts (like thin films of nerve or fat). (The use of lime to clean it was taught to us by a friend it's better it leaves it more clean and no impurities rise during boiling)


(2)Put Chicken Gizzards in a sauce pan, salt and pepper them. Add water enough to cover and bring to boil and simmer on low for 40 minutes. Drain afterwards and use that water to blend the following

(3)In a blender with some water blend Serrano chilies, garlic, tomatillos along with some bouillon. (DO NOT USE TO MUCH WATER OR IT WILL BE TOOOOO LOOOSE! If more water is necessary you may use regular tap water if you don't have enough liquid from cooking the meat)

(4)Turn heat to high in the pan with chicken gizzards add some oil and let it stay on high heat until any water evaporates and the oil will brown it up. Sautee the minced onions with it until translucent.


(5)Pour in blended sauce and bring to boil check if it needs more salt or not.

(6)Add cilantro and cook for 5-10 minutes on low covered.

(7)Your done

NOTE: With cubed chicken breast or cubed LEAN PORK LOIN you can skip the whole boiling meat part and just brown it with salt and pepper, sautee with onions, add sauce bring to boil and simmer a little bit along with Cilantro until the the chicken is cooked WAY FASTER AND MY PREFERRED

5 comments:

Nina Torres said...

well i tried this and it worked out great!!! thank you!

Anonymous said...

Mollejas are not chicken gizzards, the Hispanic culture defines them as the glands(sweetbreads) in the mouth of a cow. (i'm 100% mexican)

Try actual mollejas soaked in lime juice and bbq-ed. delish!

The meal looks good though! :-)

Nathan said...

Anonymous,
La Real Academia Española de la lengua define Molleja como "Estómago muscular que tienen las aves, muy robusto especialmente en las granívoras, y que les sirve para triturar y ablandar por medio de una presión mecánica los alimentos, que llegan a este órgano mezclados con los jugos digestivos."

Y la difinicion en Ingles de Molleja/ gizzard es "A muscular, thick-walled part of a bird's stomach for grinding food, typically with grit." asi que "gizzard" es "molleja"

Pero gracias por el commentario :)

Anonymous said...

Mollejas-sweetbread

Anonymous said...

Boil till tender w chopped. Potatoes w green Chile yumo