Chicken kelaguen

This is one of the favorite fiesta dishes of Guam. It is definitely one of my favorites.  I guess you can say its made like a ceviche, except the chicken isn't raw, its fully cooked. My mother in law makes THE BEST chicken kelaguen. She makes it the way its supposed to be made. I make it the short cut way. You are actually supposed to barbecue the chicken. I think its just seasoned with salt. I use the Costco rotisserie style chicken which makes it so fast and easy to make.

Here are my ingredients:
Salt
Hot pepper paste from Guam (you can use fresh hot peppers if you can find it at the Asian store)
1 medium onion
Green onions
Lemon powder (in Guam we use Calamansi, but you can use lemons. I think some Asian stores carry the lemon powder.)

So after you remove the meat from the bone, you will need to dice it into small pieces. I used a food processor and pulsed it until it was the size I wanted it. I then cut the onion into quarters and placed it in the food processor along with the green onions.

The chopped up chicken and onions. Ready for some salt, lemon powder and hot pepper.

I added about a tablespoon of lemon powder to 1/2 cup of water and about 1 teaspoon of the hot pepper paste. I sprinkled about a teaspoon of salt onto the chicken and onion mixture before adding the liquid. I don't really measure, I just go by taste. You can adjust whatever you need to depending on how you like it. I like my kelaguen very lemony so I add a little more lemon powder.

Make sure you mix everything together and taste it before you add more spice or seasonings.

Easy right? It's nothing compared to the real thing though. In Guam we usually add fresh grated coconut to it. On this night, I ate it with corn tortillas, just like they used to sell it at Yigo Mart. It also tastes good with flour tortillas~ just like they used to sell at the student store at my high school (actually, i'm pretty sure they sold it at all the high schools). It looks and tastes better alongside red rice, pancit, lumpia, and titiyas. That's another blog...

Just to let you know, if you use the corn tortillas, wet a paper towel, wrap the tortillas in it and microwave for 30 seconds. It gets soft and it won't tear when you place the kelaguen inside. It also tastes better.

As for storing leftovers, it has to be refrigerated and its eaten cold so don't heat it up after its made. Happy Eating!