News Americas, NEW YORK, NY: This weekend we bring you the tasty national dish of the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba to try at home. It’s the unique Keshi Yena and here’s the recipe.
INGREDIENTS
Scooped Edam cheese rind
1 lb. chicken breasts
1 lb. chicken thighs
Salt and pepper
Poultry seasoning
Minced onion
4 quarts water
2 tsp. salt
12 peppercorns
1 or 2 onions
1 celery stalk with leaves bay leaf, bruised
3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
4 onions, sliced
1 large green pepper, chopped
1Tbs. parsley, minced, or a few drops Tabasco sauce
Salt and pepper
2 Tbs. ketchup
1/4 cup pimento olives, sliced
1 Tbs. capers
1/4 cup raisins
2 Tbs. piccalilli
3 eggs, reserving about 6 Tbs.
1 or 2 hard-cooked eggs
METHOD
For the chicken filling, rub with the juice of several limes:
1 lb. chicken breasts
1 lb. chicken thighs
Season the breasts and thighs with:
Salt and pepper
Poultry seasoning
Minced onion
Let stand for several hours then either arrange the pieces in a shallow baking dish. Brown the chicken under the broiler and then bake it for one hour at 350.
Debone when cool enough to handle and set aside.
After the chicken has been prepared by one of the above methods, sautee two tablespoons butter, 3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped, 4 onions, sliced, 1 large green pepper, chopped; 1Tbs. parsley, minced, or a few drops Tabasco sauce and Salt and pepper.
Add and stir in well along with 2 Tbs. ketchup, 1/4 cup pimento olives, sliced; 1 Tbs. capers, 1/4 cup raisins and 2 Tbs. piccalilli.
Simmer until the tomatoes are reduced, about twenty or thirty minutes.
Remove from heat and let mixture cool.
Preheat oven to 350 and begin heating water in the bottom of a double boiler.
Beat and add to the meat mixture, 3 eggs, reserving about 6 Tbs.
Generously butter a casserole or the top of a double boiler before placing the cheese shell in it.
Spoon three tablespoons of the reserved beaten egg into the bottom of the container. Half fill with the meat mixture and add 1 or 2 hard-cooked eggs.
Fill shell to the top with remaining meat and cover with the original cap of the Edam, from which the wax has been removed, or a few slices of cheese. (Never use soft young cheese for keshi yena)
Drip the remaining three tablespoonfuls of beaten egg over the top of the cheese as a sealer.
Place the lid on the double boiler.
Set the casserole in a pan of hot water or the double boiler top over the simmering water.
Cook for one and one-quarter hours. Reverse keshi yena on a heated platter and keep warm for the cheese becomes hard and unappetizing if permitted to cool.
NOTE: In place of the cheese shell, two pounds of Edam or Gouda slices may be used to line the cooking container. The slices should overlap and create the same effect as the shell. Add filling cover with additional slices and follow direction.
