Poulet DG
Updated: Jun 21, 2021
Honestly I don't know how I've never come across or heard of Poulet DG before! Well I guess that's what this blog is for- discovering and showcasing delicious African dishes/recipes ☺️
This dish is just what I call a perfect combination- Plantain and chicken in delicious tomato sauce, I mean!!!! What a delicious one pot meal! I'm a lover of plantain and this combination is just everything. This recipe shows you how versatile plantain is. If all you do with plantain is just to fry it then, elevate your dish with this delicious Cameroonian recipe!
Poulet DG is a popular Cameroonian dish with a French influence/origin- the French meal called Fricassee which is essentially a chicken stew with vegetables. The French influence will be due to colonisation. Poulet is French word for chicken and DG is acronym for Directeur Général which mean Managing Director in English or you could say CEO as well. So why is DG attached to the name of this meal. Well this meal used to served mainly to the upperclass ie the bosses and all. Also back then, chicken was seen as somewhat an expensive meat which meant that when you're eating a meal you'd probably have just one piece of meat. But for you to have a whole plate of meal with more than one chicken then you're probably more well to do hence it being a meal popularly for the upper class. Anyways, these days, the meal is no longer just for the upper class and is popularly enjoyed. Now let get into this boss meal!
Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large plantains
-1 medium sized onion
-1 kg chicken (whole chicken or cuts like chicken thighs will be fine too)
-4 medium tomatoes
-1/2 inch ginger roots
-4 garlic cloves
-1/2 teaspoon ground white powder
-2 seasoning/bouillon cubes
-1/2 Celery stalk
-1 & 1/2 Spring Onion stem
-4 stems (or about 2 handfuls ) of parsley or Cilantro
-1 medium carrot
-1/2 handful of green beans
-1/2 Green bell pepper or 1/4 each of coloured (Green, Yellow & Red)bell pepper
-1 cup oil (preferably vegetable oil)
-1/2 teaspoon of salt
-1/2 scotch bonnet (optional )
Kitchen Tool/Equipment
-Frying Pan
-Pot
-Food processor
-Chopping board
Process
First step is to make our spice blend that we will need to marinate & cook the chicken with. So blend together the following - Garlic, ginger, celery, parsley, scotch bonnet (if using) and half to the onion. Add a 1/2 cup of water to blend properly.
Wash the chicken and place into the pot. Add in 3/4 of the spice blend into the chicken, a little bit of salt, 1 seasoning cube, 1/2 of the white pwder and also about 1/2 a cup of water and then bring to boil for about 15-20 minutes.. You can also leave the chicken to marinade for an hour first before boiling if you are not pressed for time. But whichever way is fine.
As the chicken is boiling, peel and slice your plantain into your desired shape. Then pour the oil into the frying pan and then heat the oil up. Fry the plantain until golden brown.
When the chicken is done, take it out but keep the stock as it will be needed later on. Place the chicken in your grilling pan and grilled according to cooking instructions on the packet or for about 20 minutes or until golden brown at 200 degree Celsius . If you do not want to grill, you can fry it instead.
Whilst the chicken is grilling or frying. Roughly blend your tomatoes.
Pour less than half of the oil you used in frying the plantain into another pot. Heat on medium to high heat. Then pour in the remaining half of the onions (chopped ). Sauté for a few minutes. Then add in the blended tomatoes. Stir together and allow to fry/cook until the you can no longer taste the sour taste of the tomatoes. Whilst the tomato sauce is cooking, chop the green beans, carrot, spring onions and bell peppers.
Add the rest of the blended spice (from step 1) to the tomato stew and cook for about 2 minutes. Then add in the chicken stock (from step 4), and the remaining spice blend, white pepper and seasoning cubes. Stir it altogether and let it cook on medium heat for about 2 minutes.
Now add in the chicken and stir very well with the sauce, then add in the fried plantain and stir carefully so that you don't get the plantain mushed up. Then add in the chopped up vegetables and stir carefully again. Then leave to simmer for about 2 minutes and that's it. Simmering for such short period allows the vegetable to still be crunchy and fresh but if you want them softer then leave to simmer longer than 2 minutes.
All that is left to do is enjoy!
Check out the reels section of my Instagram page for a quick video showing the process here.
Any questions, feel free to send an email or message on any of my social media platform.