What's for Dinner?

Last night, I made some stewed chicken. I believe there are many variations of the dish (The Trinidadian version, which I love, or the version with stewed tomatoes and spinach with spices, which I love too, but had to omit because I was also feeding a very picky small child), so I did a new variation that sent praises my way!

The recipe is a bit complicated, but the meal is rather enjoyable!

What you will need:

1 medium sized onion, cut in half

1/3 clove garlic, minced

5 scallions, chopped finely

chicken thighs and wings, cut (the thighs can be boneless or with the bone, as long as you get them cut)

curry powder

garlic powder

cumin

seasoning salt

salt

pepper

maggi cubes

water (depends on the amount of chicken being made)

1 can tomato paste

flour

oil

margarine

Rice

Large stew pot

First and foremost, clean the chicken! Make sure there's not fat or skin or feathers on the chicken, and let it sit in lime juice and water to rinse off impurities, then chop the chicken up.

Next, add the curry and garlic powder, salt and pepper to the chicken, and rub them in. Set it aside whilst you start to chop up the vegetables.

After the vegetables are chopped, place the stew pot on the stove, turn the gas gauge up to 4 and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the vegetables, curry powder and the garlic powder and let them fry for 2-3 minutes.

After the vegetables and seasonings are fried, add the chicken, stirring it around, letting it brown a bit. When it browns, crumble the maggi cube in your (clean) hand and sprinkle it on the chicken.

After the chicken is done browning, add water to the mixture. I added about 4 cups here. Let is simmer for 15 minutes before adding the next ingredients. (you see my spoon holder bunny back there? lol)

So, whilst the chicken is stewing, I made a roux to thicken the stew up. (A roux, which is a type of gravy, is a known staple down south, where I lived at for the past 5 years. It is usually made for Gumbos and etoufees and such). For the roux, I used oil and flour. I added a 250ml (1 cup) of oil to a couple of tablespoons flour, and whisked it until I received the desired thickness I was looking for. (If you know how to make gravy, I think this is the easiest step). You cannot use gravy from the stores, btw.....it will throw off the flavour of the stew. I let the roux cool down before I added it to the pot.

After I added the roux, I used a sauce pan and added margarine and the scoop of the tomato paste to it, and let it cook down for a bit, and I then added that to the stew pot as well.

I let that stew for another 10 minutes, then I add in the remaining tomato paste, seasoning salt, cumin powder and some more garlic and curry powder for taste.

I let that then stew for another 20 minutes, and while it is simmering, I put on a pot of rice. (Not Success Bag Rice...I can't stand that crap, but the kind of rice that needs a good stirring and salt)

After the 20 minutes, the rice will be done, as will the stew. And to go with the stewed chicken, I decided to enjoy a bottle of Bartenura Moscato.

Here are the final results: