Tocaimuna Chicken Recipe

By: Francisco Antonio Torres Durán

Lecturer, Tourism and Hotel Management Technology Program

University of Cundinamarca, Girardot branch

Leonardo Carrascal Flórez

Student advisor

Third semester Technology in Tourism and Hotel Management

Historical overview:

In the municipality of Tocaima (Tequendama region), they prepare "La Gallina Tocaimuna," a dish made with local free-range chickens, accompanied by yucca, potatoes, and a sauce of fat and onions. It is served with a rice and tripe soup. The dish has a basic cooking method: the chicken is cooked separately from the other ingredients without any seasoning, as the chickens are marinated with salt beforehand. It is served with a delicious onion stew cooked in the chicken's own fat, creating a kind of confit, seasoned with cumin and...

The yellow color is added to the communal dish; that is, the whole chicken, potatoes, plantain, and yucca are served on a single platter covered in this magnificent onion sauce. The dish is accompanied by panela water lemonade. It is a well-known dish in this area due to its history.

The bearers say that in the year 1581 there was a great flood in the municipality and that when the rains passed, amidst the rivers of water that formed, the patron saint San Jacinto floated by and in his hand was a hen, which from this moment on is taken as a symbol of survival, progress and work.

Ingredients:

1 large hen

3 pounds of potatoes

3 pounds of cassava

3 1/2 pounds of green onions

1 head of garlic

1 pound of cilantro

10 grams of yellow color

Salt, cumin, pepper, to taste

Oil 500 ml.

Preparation:

Prepare and wash the chicken, removing the fat that is used in the stew.

The chicken is seasoned with salt.

The chicken is cooked in 6 liters of water, flavored with cilantro, onion tops, cumin, pepper, and garlic. It is left to cook for two hours or more.

The potatoes and cassava are cooked.

Sauce or Stew:

In the fat carefully extracted from the chicken's fat, the long onion, cut into small sticks and shredded, is sautéed over medium heat.

Add chopped garlic, yellow coloring and it should be very faint, add broth from cooking the chicken and cook for approximately 10 minutes.

It is served cut up with potatoes and yucca, and the sauce is added on top of the chicken and the side dishes.

More news from the Girardot branch at the News Agency