Chicken Stew

Chicken stew is a mildly flavoured gravy with chicken and veggies cooked in coconut milk and are a great side dish for all breads and rice. It’s a common dish during the time of Christmas in Kerala and is served along with appam. The dish is a favourite for kids as its less spicy and is very nutritious too. Heres what you ll need.

Ingredients

· Chicken: 1 kg cut into small pieces

· Oil: 2-3 tbsp

· Cinnamon stick: 1-2 “ stick

· Cloves: 5-6

· Cardamom: 4-5

· Pepper corns: 8-10

· Bay leaf: 1

· Star anise: 1

· Onion: 2 medium sized (sliced)

· Ginger garlic paste: 1 Tbsp

· Carrots: 1 cut into small cubes

· French beans: 1-2 cut into 1-2” long pieces

· Peas and corn kernels: 50 gms together

· Freshly ground pepper powder: ½- ¾ Tsp

· Salt to taste

· Thin coconut milk: 1.5 cups

· Thick coconut milk: 1 cup

· Curry leaves: 1 sprig

Method

1. Add oil to a pan and sauté the whole spices and curry leaves for a minute and continue to sauté after adding the sliced onion. The onions should not change colour.

2. Once the onions are translucent add the ginger garlic paste and salt and mix well for 2-3 minutes

3. Add all the veggies and pepper powder and give a good stir

4. Add the cut chicken pieces and the thin coconut milk and cook with the lid closed for 20-25 minutes

5. Once chicken is cooked add the thick coconut milk and salt if needed and give a good stir on low flame and just allow the coconut milk to heat up and switch off the flame before boil comes.

6. Serve hot with breads of your choice



Happy Cooking!!


Shabana