Stewed Chicken accompanied by rice & beans, potato salad and fried plantains is the traditional Sunday meal in Belize and probably the national dish per excellence. It's a very simple dish and even the small addition of a green bell pepper is a recent innovation brought about by Belizeans in the United States.

I found several recipes for this dish and I went with this one because I liked the idea of caramelizing the chicken in the sugar, it wasn't something I had done before. That was interesting and provided for a nice color, but the overall result wasn't very satisfactory. The stew was quite bland, and while totally eatable, it just made me yearn for better chicken stews. Still, I ate the left over the next day.

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Belizean Chicken Stew

Ingredients

• 1 chicken, cut into parts
• salt, pepper & garlic powder to taste
• 2 tsp. vegetable oil
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp. vinegar
• 1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
• 1 green pepper, chopped

Instructions

Wash and pat dry the chicken pieces. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Heal oil in a large pot. Add sugar and stir until it starts to caramelized. Add chicken pieces and brown on all sides (you may have to do this in batches). Add onion and green pepper and fry for a couple of minutes. Combine water with vinegar and worcestershire sauce and add to the chicken. Cover and cook over medium to medium-low heat until the chicken is done. Add water if necessary.

Adapted from a recipe at cakafete.com