By Christina Morales, The New York Times
Seven years ago, just as Jorge Cárdenas was about to open Ix Restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, he returned to his home in Quetzaltenango, in the highlands of Guatemala, to make sure that his recipes tasted like those his Maya grandmother had taught him to make.
He worried about his version of jocón, a velvety stew made with chicken and tomatillos. He had his family and friends taste it, and they confirmed that it was as good as he’d thought.
“I tried many, many jocones,” he said. But he always thought of his grandmother’s. “The taste was always on my mind.”
Jocón — a word that comes from jok’, which means to grind or mash in the Mayan K’iche’ language — is popular throughout Guatemala, said Miguel Cuj, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Vanderbilt University who is Guatemalan. The flavor of the soup can vary, depending on who makes it. Some versions are spicier because of chiltepe chiles, or are made with red tomatoes.
Archaeologists have found ancient Maya bowls, and believe that stews like jocón were once eaten daily, said Michael D. Carrasco, an art history professor at Florida State University who edited the book “Pre-Columbian Foodways: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Food, Culture and Markets in Ancient Mesoamerica.” In 2007, the Guatemalan government declared jocón an essential piece of the country’s heritage, said Amalia Moreno-Damgaard, the author of two Guatemalan cookbooks.
The stew is a combination of Maya and Spanish ingredients including tomatillos and cilantro from the Maya, and sesame seeds and chicken from colonizers. The Maya likely used local proteins such as turkey or venison. “It’s a blend of the ancient and the modern,” Moreno-Damgaard said.
Jocón is mostly served during special occasions like birthdays or weddings, she said. It’s traditional during celebrations like the pedida de mano, a ceremony in which a man proposes to a woman at her home.
Maira Pérez López first tried the stew in 1998 at a restaurant in Huehuetenango in her native Guatemala. She loved it, and vowed to recreate it. Family members taught her how to make it before she moved to the United States. After making a handful of versions, she felt she had nailed the flavor, and even added her own touches, including adding celery.
In 2009, Pérez López started selling lunches to farmworkers in Albany and Syracuse, New York. She serves jocón about once a month.
“When you like something,” she said in Spanish, “the taste just stays with you.”
RECIPE: Jocón (Chicken and Tomatillo Stew)
Recipe from Jorge Cárdenas
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Adapted by Christina Morales
Jocón — whose name comes from jok’, meaning to grind or mash in Mayan K’iche’ — is a fresh chicken and tomatillo stew that is popular throughout Guatemala. The stew stems from Maya culture but some of its ingredients today, including sesame seeds and chicken, were likely introduced by Spanish colonizers. Some Maya groups also made theirs more spicy, or with red tomatoes rather than tomatillos, depending on in which part of the country they lived. This bright recipe is from Jorge Cárdenas, an owner of Ix Restaurant in Brooklyn, New York, who was taught by his Maya grandmother to make it. This soup base is blended until creamy, but there can be some variety in texture, depending on how someone grinds the seed mixture and purées the soup itself. Although the tomatillos, peppers, onions and jalapeño are typically scorched on a comal or pan, this recipe makes the process easier by broiling them in a sheet pan.
Yield: 8 servings
Total time: About 2 hours
Ingredients
1 cup roasted, unsalted pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup white sesame seeds
1 pound tomatillos (about 9 medium), husked and washed
3 medium green bell peppers, halved and destemmed
1 sweet onion, peeled and quartered
1 jalapeño, split lengthwise
6 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
Salt
3 scallions, trimmed and roughly chopped
1 large bunch cilantro (leaves and tender stems), roughly chopped
3 large russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/3-inch cubes
4 medium carrots, peeled and diced into 1/3-inch cubes
Cooked white rice, for serving
Preparation
1. Toast the pumpkin and sesame seeds in a medium pan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and the sesame seeds start to turn light golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a blender and pulse until sandy, scraping the sides and stirring as needed. Set aside ground seed mixture.
2. Set the broiler to high. In a large sheet pan, arrange the whole tomatillos, halved peppers, quartered onion and halved jalapeño, cut sides down, in an even layer. Broil until the skin of the vegetables is soft and blistered, rotating the pan as needed, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. To a large pot, add the chicken broth, chicken thighs and the blistered jalapeño, bell peppers, onion and tomatillos; bring the mixture to a boil over high. Once the soup is boiling, reduce the heat to medium and simmer it, stirring occasionally, for 35 minutes.
4. While the soup cooks, heat the olive oil in a small skillet over low heat. Add the minced garlic and 2 teaspoons salt and fry just until golden, swirling the pan, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
5. Remove the chicken from the broth and set aside in a medium bowl. Add the scallions and cilantro to the broth. Purée the broth in a blender, or directly in the pot using an immersion blender.
6. Add the garlic mixture to the large pot with the soup, along with the potatoes, carrots and the ground seed mixture. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the vegetables are fork-tender and the soup thickens.
7. Using two forks, pull the chicken into small chunks or bite-size pieces. Stir the chicken back into the soup to warm it, and add more salt to taste.
8. To serve, scoop cooked rice into a small cup and invert it into a bowl; surround with soup. The soup can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.