CHICKEN STEW

 

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This Recipe Serves 3-4

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This Chicken Stew is stacked with vegetables & flavour.

A stew is a mix of strong sustenance ingredients that have been cooked in fluid & served in the resultant gravy. It is a warm & comforting dish for supper.

 

Chicken Stew Ingredients:

• 1 ½ carrots
• ¼ cup peas
• 100 grams green beans
• ¼ cabbage
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 5-6 chicken breast pieces
• 1 ½ teaspoons chilli flakes (optional)
• salt to taste
• 1 onion, chopped
• 5-6 green chillies, slit
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 3 sprigs thyme
• ¼ teaspoon ginger & garlic paste
• ± 20 whole peppercorns
• 4 teaspoons all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon mixed dried herbs
• 5-6 potatoes
• 1 teaspoon chicken spice (optional)
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

Method:

1. Peel carrots, rinse & chop into small chunks.
2. Finely slice the cabbage, rinse & set aside.
3. Break off either ends of the green beans (just a tiny bit to remove the stems), wash & slice.
4. Place the vegetables in a bowl & set aside.
5. Rinse chicken breasts.
6. 
7. Cut breast pieces into chunks & set aside in a bowl/dish.
8. 
9. Defrost vegetables if frozen veggies are being used. If fresh veggies are going to be used then peel the carrots & dice up all the veggies & set aside.
10. 
11. Peel potatoes, cut in halves & set in a bowl of cold water.
12. 
13. 
14. Chop onion & set aside.
15. 
16. Chop tomato & set aside.
17. 
18. Cut off the stems of the green chillies, rinse & slit each one down the middle.
19. 
20. Heat the oil in a large pot.
21. When the oil is hot enough, add in the chopped onion, curry leaves, rosemary & thyme.
22. 
23. Thereafter add in the green chillies & chilli flakes (optional). Simmer on medium heat for 2 minutes without allowing the onions to burn. (If onions burn, it’s best to start over).
24. 
25. Add in the ginger & garlic paste.
26. 
27. Thereafter, add in the chopped tomato, followed with about a ¼ cup of water. (I used boiled water).
28. 
29. Allow this to simmer until the tomatoes have been cooked through.
30. 
31. Drop in the chicken pieces.
32. 
33. Mix well & add a little more water if needed.
34. 
35. Add in the peppercorns.
36. 
37. I have also added in a little chicken spice, this step may be omitted.
38. 
39. Allow to cook on medium heat until the chicken is almost soft.
40. 
41. When the chicken is almost soft, drop in the vegetables (carrots, green beans, cabbage) or frozen veggies like I have.
42. 
43. Mix well.
44. 
45. When the veggies have softened up then drop in the potatoes. (Discard the water that the potatoes have been resting in).
46. 
47. Mix well & try to push the potatoes under the gravy so that they cook.
48. 
49. Whilst the potatoes are cooking, grab a bowl & drop in the 4 teaspoons of flour. Add a little tap water to it to form a paste. Mix well & set aside.
50. 
51. When the potatoes are soft & almost melting, add in a spoon at a time of the flour paste, stirring as you add it into the pot. The flour paste acts as a thickening agent & forms the thick stewy gravy.
52. 
53. 
54. Add in the dried mixed herbs if you are using it.
55. 
56. Add salt to taste.
57. 
58. At this point you may add in Dumplings if you like. Dumplings are balls of batter that are added to most stews & other dishes, which form big doughy balls that are soft.
59. If the stew is too thick, add more boiled water. If the stew is too weak, add in a little more of the flour paste.
60. 
61. Serve hot with bread, rice or as is.
62. 
63. 

 

Quick Tip: If by chance, the stew burns, carefully empty the the stew into another pot/container without disturbing the burnt parts at the surface. Do this immediately as you do not want the stew to have a burnt taste, trust me nobody wants that! Also add in a little sugar to diminish any left over burnt taste that it may have trapped.