National Dishes of the World

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Pepián
Photo: erwin.flores69, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

main dish

Pepián

A Guatemalan stew of chicken and vegetables in a thick sauce of toasted pumpkin seeds, sesame, tomatoes and dried chillies.

Eaten in: Guatemala

Prep
30 min
Cooking
1 h 15 min
Total
1 h 45 min
Servings
6

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About the dish

Pepián is a thick, fragrant stew in which Maya traditions meet Spanish cooking. Its flavour comes from the recado, a sauce of pumpkin and sesame seeds toasted in a dry pan, tomatoes, green husk tomatoes (miltomate), onion, garlic and dried guaque and pasa chillies, blended and thickened with a little corn tortilla or bread. The toasting gives the sauce a dark colour and a faintly smoky, nutty taste. Chicken, or sometimes beef or pork, is simmered in the sauce with chunks of potato, chayote and green beans. Pepián is served with white rice and small plain tamalitos or tortillas, especially for Sunday lunches and family celebrations.

Main ingredients

  • chicken
  • pumpkin seeds
  • sesame seeds
  • tomatoes
  • tomatillos
  • dried chillies
  • chayote
  • potatoes

Guatemala: Regarded as one of the most characteristic dishes of Guatemala.

More: Wikipedia (en)

Recipe

Pepián

https://foodmap.ominuvo.com/dish/pepian

Ingredients

6 servings

6 servings

Method

  1. Cover the chicken with the water or stock, salt it and simmer for 25 minutes.

  2. In a dry pan, toast the pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, chillies (stems and seeds removed) and cinnamon separately until fragrant. Take care not to burn the sesame.

  3. In the same pan, char the tomatoes, tomatillos, onion and garlic until blackened in places. Toast the tortilla until crisp.

  4. Blend all the toasted and charred ingredients with two ladles of the chicken broth to a smooth, thick sauce.

  5. Pour the sauce into the pot with the chicken, add the diced potatoes and chayote and simmer for 25 minutes. Add the green beans and cook for 10 minutes more until the vegetables are tender.

  6. Season with salt and pepper, scatter with chopped coriander and serve with rice and tortillas or tamalitos.

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