Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia · Volume 08, The Reducción, the Fiesta and the Fishing Stone
Kaddon pika
CHamoru, Guam
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 37 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
A one-pot chicken braise in soy, vinegar, garlic, onion and hot pepper, often finished with coconut milk, at which point it converges with estufao: Guampedia states outright that "estufao with donne' and coconut milk is also known as kåddon pika."
As tradition built it
Recipe credited to Frances Reyes, in Lepblon Fina'tinas Para Guam: Guam Cookbook, 1985, reprinted with permission of Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo and Y Inetnon Famalaó'an. About 37 minutes of simmering, after marinating (no marinating time stated in the source).
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (stewing bird preferred), cut into small pieces
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- ¼ cup sliced onion
- 3 cloves garlic, diced
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 cup coconut milk
- to taste donne' (hot pepper), optional
Method
- Marinate the cut chicken in the soy sauce, vinegar, onion, garlic and black pepper, directly in the cooking pot.
- Simmer for 30 minutes.
- Add hot pepper if using, and simmer a further 5 minutes.
- Drain off the rendered grease.
- Pour in the coconut milk and simmer 2 minutes more.
- Remove from the heat and serve warm.
What a modern chef changes
The braise separated into stages so the coconut milk finishes rather than simmers away.
Method
- Braise the chicken pieces sous vide in the soy, vinegar, onion, garlic and pepper marinade at a controlled low temperature, reproducing the 30-minute simmer's tenderness with less risk of the sauce reducing unevenly.
- Reduce the coconut milk separately to a light glaze before combining, rather than simmering it directly with the chicken for only 2 minutes, giving a more deliberately built, glossier finish.