Pollo Con Cola
I like Peruvian chicken in general and was looking for a good Peruvian chicken recipe. I was intrigued by the idea of chicken with cola. The sugars in the soda become caramelized on the chicken skin, making the chicken crispy and crunchy.
I did have to go buy some cola from the grocery store. It only uses a cup of cola, but I didn’t have any at home since I am trying to stay away from drinking soda. I went to the grocery store, but apparently they only sell the cans of soda in six packs or more. I couldn’t find the section where they sell individual cans. I know that somewhere, in the refrigerated section, they sell the 20 ounce bottles, but I couldn’t find them.
I ended up buying the 1 liter bottle since it was only a dollar. I could have bought the 2 liter bottle for a dollar, but I would have had to buy six bottles of soda. Although I thought this dish would have potential, I really didn’t think I would be making THAT much of it that I would need six bottles of soda.
The chicken turned out to have a very strong flavor. I thought it tasted strongly of cumin, but Mike thinks the flavor was from the five spice. The recipe did call for 2 tablespoons of five spice, which is quite a bit.
- 6 chicken bone in, skin on chicken thighs
- 1 cup Coca Cola (not the diet kind)
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Chinese five spice powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with foil, and place the chicken in the pan. Leave some space between each piece of chicken.
- In a medium bowl, combine the Coca Cola, soy sauce, Chinese five spice, cumin, onion and garlic. Mix the ingredients together and pour evenly over all of the chicken pieces.
- Roast the chicken, basting the pieces with the juices every 15 minutes, or until it has reached an internal temperature of 165 F and is cooked through, about 45 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
Adapted from Ceviche by Martin Morales
