• Capital: Guatemala city
• Population: about 16.2 million
• Area: 108 889 km²
• Currency: Quetzal

For my Guatemalan recipe I made jócon . Jócon is chicken cooked in a green sauce made with onion, cilantro, jalapeños, tomatillos and thickened with pumpkin and sesame seeds. It can be more or less spicy depending on how many jalapeños you add. For the recipe here I used 2 but if you want it to be very spicy you can go up to 5.

Jócon

Ingredients:

• 1 pound chicken thighs with bone and skin
• 1 pound chicken breast
• 1/2 white onion
• 2 jalapeños
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 3 green onions
• 8 small tomatillos
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Directions:

First, as usual, prepare all the ingredients. Measure the seeds, roughly chop the onion, the tomatillos and the green onion. Cut the jalapeños in half and remove the seeds.

Bring about 4 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. Add salt and put the chicken breast and thighs in the water. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, remove the chicken from the cooking liquid and reserve. Keep the liquid. Put the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend. Add some of the chicken cooking liquid (1 to 2 cups) until you get a sauce like consistency.

In a sauté pan or a wok, add the chicken and the mixture from the blender. Cover and cook for 25 more minutes. Serve with rice.

Buen provecho!