Learn How to Cook Keshi Yena, a Unique Dish from Aruba

For the chicken filling, rub with the juice of several limes:

Season the breasts and thighs with: Salt and pepper, Poultry seasoning, Minced onion

1 lb. chicken breasts, 1 lb. chicken thighs, 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.

3 tomatoes, 4 onions, 1 large green pepper, 1 Tbs. parsley, 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.

1/4 cup pimento olives, 1 Tbs. capers, 1/4 cup raisins, 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.

3 eggs

Generously butter a casserole or the top of a double boiler before placing the cheese shell in it.

Scooped Edam cheese rind

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.