The winter is fast approaching here in the UK, though you wouldn’t know it from how mild it has been through most of the Autumn. A recent spell of actual cold days, combined with some free time, led me to muck around in the kitchen until I produced this spicy chicken stew that went down rather well. It’s proper winter comfort food.
On the off chance it’s of interest to others I thought I’d post it here:
Ingredients:
– One onion, chopped
– Three cloves garlic
– One fresh chilli (type is down to your palate), chopped fine
– Two chicken breasts
– One tin of red kidney beans
– One pepper (red, green or whatever doesn’t matter)
– Two level teaspoons of Chilli powder
– One heaped teaspoon of Cumin
– Two-three tins of tomatoes
– Tomato puree/blitzed sundried tomatoes
– Chicken stock
– half pint of water
What to do:
You need to fry off the onions and garlic in a decent sized saucepan or pot with a little olive oil. When the onions are soft add the chilli, stir fry for a few minutes before adding the chilli powder and cumin then add the chopped chicken breast (be sure to turn up the heat at this point or the chicken will take forever to seal).
Once the chicken has colour all the way over, and is nearly cooked through, add the peppers before adding the tomatoes: break them down with your spatula or spoon in the pan as you fry them off. Next, add the puree (or blitzed sundried tomatoes if flush), hot water and chicken stock. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer. Allow the stew to simmer for ten to fifteen minutes before adding the beans then leave for another half an hour.
Finally add one square of high cocoa chocolate (90% +) taking care to break it up before adding and to stir it through the stew. Taste before serving and if it’s too spicy for you add a little sugar to take the edge off but you shouldn’t need any salt or pepper as these are included in the stock cube.
Serve the stew in a bowl with either thick and crusty fresh bread or with rice if you’re after a big meal. It can be bulked out with additional veg like peas, sweetcorn, carrots and broccoli or added to jacket potatoes. I hope you like it.