Pollo Fundido

I was introduced to Pollo Fundito by my awesome niece, Sonja.  After thinking it over, I realize that many of my memories with her include yummy food!  When she was little, my Mom would take Dairy Queen Dilly Bars to share with the whole family.  Many years later, Sonja introduced me to a local Thai restaurant, a Hawaiian fish place, and lately, some awesome new Mexican food!  I love Sonja in many ways, and one of the yummiest is to follow her foodie ways!

I realized that of all my favorite Mexican food restaurants around here, none serve Pollo Fundido - I have had to learn to make it out of a delicious self-preservation - or make lots of visits to Arizona to see Sonja & eat Pollo Fundido!



This recipe is adapted from (http://www.geniuskitchen.com/amp/recipe/pollo-fundido-38053).  While their recipe is good, I have adapted mine to our style of cooking.

Awesomeness in a smile.  :-)

My stomach is happily full, but my mouth wants more!

Pollo Fundido

Makes 12 +/-

INGREDIENTS

Filling

2 chicken breasts

Sprinkle, to taste: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, & coriander

2 T vegetable oil

1/2 onion

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

Tabasco sauce, to taste

12 small flour tortillas

Sauce

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

1/2 jalapeno, diced

1/2 cup half-and-half

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

2 cups grated cheese, divided

DIRECTIONS

• ·        Remove the cream cheese from the fridge & put it into a large mixing bowl to use later.
• ·        Sprinkle frozen chicken with spices & cook over a medium heat in a skillet.  Cover with a lid. Turn when one side gets brown.  (Cooking it slow like this allows you to use the chicken straight from the freezer, plus gives you time to cut & mix the next steps.)
• ·        While the chicken is cooking, dice your peppers, onion, and add a few shakes of Tabasco sauce. 
• ·        When both sides of the chicken are browned, but the middle still somewhat frozen, remove one piece of chicken at a time & dice (you want the bits of chicken to be pretty small – as you make this several times, you’ll figure out how small works best for you – I aim for between 1/4” and 1/2” cubes.  Add onion & pepper mixture to skillet when you pull your first piece of chicken out to cut it up.  Return to skillet and cook until vegetables are soft and the chicken is fully cooked.
• ·        Preheat oven to 325°F and start pre-warming a skillet to fry the rolls.
• ·        While the chicken & veggies are cooking, make the sauce.  In the bowl with the cream cheese, add the diced jalapeno, half-and-half, garlic, & 1 Cup of the cheese.  Mix well.
• ·        When the chicken & veggies are fully cooked, add to the sauce mixture.  Mix thoroughly, ensuring the cream cheese isn’t lumpy.
• ·        Tip – warm tortillas are easier to roll; however, you don’t need to warm them first unless you plan to fold the ends of the tortillas into the rolls.
• ·        Use about half of the mixture to make the rolls – use a slotted spoon to place a heaping spoonful of meat & (some) sauce mixture into each tortilla.  Place it on a dry skillet to brown the tortilla.  Move into a large square baking dish (like a lasagna pan).  This will be a messy process, & works a little better with two people.  If anything falls out of the tortilla, just add it back in.
• ·        Pour the remaining mixture over the tortillas, then sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.
• ·        Bake in oven until the cheese has melted, about 15 minutes.

Serve with a side of black beans.