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diri-djon-djon

I am on a mission to find the greatest version of chicken and rice, if such even exists. We now travel to Haiti, where we experience diri djon djon. Okay if you’re Haitian you might be wondering why is the rice so light and that can be attributed accidentally using the wrong mushrooms but more on that later. Starting with the poulet en sauce–we marinate chicken with onion, garlic, thyme, and a bunch of citrus before searing. We’ll remove when nice and colored then fry tomato paste in that chicken fat and fond for a few minutes before throwing in the peppers plus the just the solids from our marinade. Once everyone is acquainted we’ll drown them in chicken stock and the liquid from our marinade. The chicken joins and goes low and slow til cooked through. Now back to the mushrooms–you want to buy the djon djon variety but my silly self thought black fungus was the same thing. Anyways, the process is the same–boil the mushrooms to give their flavor and color to the water. Scallion and peas sauté with green seasoning before adding the mushroom stock and rice then steaming for some time with some thyme. I know the rice wasn’t black enough but regardless this dish was delicious. The rice was earthy and flavorful from the mushrooms which helped to balance the bright and citrusy stew. I give it an 8.7/10.

Ingredients