This is a wonderfully heady mix of chicken stewed down with green peppers and all sorts of wonderful spices with a little bit of wine. You can use skinless chicken legs or thighs, you could substitute with skinless if you like. You can use more or less chicken depending on your needs. And, important to note, you can freeze the finished dish, making it an excellent delivery later.

It’s an absolute classic and well worth making at home because it is rich and comforting. This chicken stew starts by slowly simmering tomatoes and onions. You can use canned tomatoes, fresh or puree tomatoes. To make Chicken Stew, start by searing the chicken thighs and drumsticks. This step ensures juices are locked and chicken will be moist when cooked in a stew. After taking out browned chicken, saute spices, sausage, and aromatics in the same pot.

The juices from aromatics remove the brown bits of chicken stuck to the bottom of the pan. These have so much flavor. Once aromatics are soft, spices are fragrant. Add in rest of stew ingredients – tomatoes, lentils, sweet potato, chicken broth. Mix well, then return browned chicken on top.

This is a recipe to make when you have plenty of time to let it slowly simmer away in the oven – it doesn’t take a lot of hands-on prep, but the secret to the flavor is the long cooking time.

Ingredients;

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 bunch spring onions, sliced, white and green parts separated
  • 400g potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
  • 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • 200g Savoy cabbage or spring cabbage, sliced

Instructions;

  1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the white spring onion slices and fry for 1 min to soften.
  2. Cover and cook for 35 mins, or until the vegetables are tender and the chicken cooked through.
  3. Add the cabbage and simmer for another 5 mins. If the stew looks too thin, mix the cornflour with 1 tbsp cold water and pour a couple of teaspoonfuls into the pan.
  4. Let the stew bubble and thicken, then check again.
  5. If it’s still too thin, add a little more of the cornflour mix and let the stew bubble and thicken some more.
  6. Season to taste, then spoon the stew into deep bowls.
  7. Scatter over the green spring onion slices and serve with crusty bread or warm cheese scones, if you like.