Kathy's Mexican Pulled Chicken

Pulled chicken soft-shelled taco with cabbage, radishes, cilantro, feta and siracha mayo

Every person needs one staple dish, for Kathy, who regularly enjoys Mexican inspired food with her husband-to-be, this will be hers. Pulled chicken: for tacos, nachos, quesadillas and lettuce wraps; this sweet and spicy chicken is as tasty as it is versatile. Marinate overnight and throw it in the slow-cooker while at work, or cook under two hours in a covered pot or dutch oven if slow-cooking is not your speed. For Kathy plus one.

Chicken Rub:

This will provide enough rub for two small chickens (approx. 1kg each) 

• 4 tablespoons of sweet paprika
• 4 tablespoons of garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons of dried coriander 
• 2 tablespoons of chili powder
• 2 tablespoons of coarse salt
• 1teaspoon of fresh-cracked black pepper

Everything Else:

• 1 small whole chicken (approx. 1kg)
• 4 tablespoons of your favourite hot sauce (mine is siracha)
• 1/2 can of Coke, Pepsi, root beer, or your favourite alcoholic beer
• Juice from 1 whole lime
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil

Combine all rub ingredients in a large enough ziplock bag to toss your chicken in. Close bag and shake all rub ingredients until they're well combined. Unzip, place your chicken(s) in the bag, close the bag and shake well until your chicken(s) is completely coated in the rub. Refrigerate overnight for the most flavourful chicken, although you can cook it right away if time doesn't permit.

When you're ready to cook, pre-heat your oven to 400. Meanwhile on your stove-top in a large pot,  or french or dutch oven, on medium-high, heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (for about 2 minutes) then place your chicken breast side down into the pot and cook for 2 minutes. Pour your 1/2 can of beer or soda into in the pot along with the lime juice and hot sauce, and simmer for another 2 minutes. Cover your pot and place in the pre-heated oven on the middle rack. Cook covered for 2 hours. 

 Chicken before it goes in the oven

When your chicken is done, remove the chicken from the pot and place on cutting board and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Reserve the sauce in the pot. Once chicken has slightly cooled, with two forks, start pulling the meat off of its bones (it should just be falling off at this point). If some of the chicken comes off in larger pieces, use the forks to shred into smaller pieces. Once you've removed all of the chicken from its bones (and ensured there are no bones in the chicken) put the chicken back in the pot with the reserved sauce and mix. You can save the bones for a stock or  simply discard them. 

At this point your chicken is done and ready to be served, bon appetit!