Homemade Chicken Stew

So the weather in Singapore has moved into the 'rainy season', which means showers nearly everyday, and the air being generally chilly. It also means my bitch-of-a-sinus problems are hitting me pretty hard every morning (and every time a frigid breeze passes by me).

So I felt that it was time for one of my all time favourite dishes - CHICKEN STEW!

It's really one of the best recipes ever, because it's just so damn easy. Potatoes, onions, carrots, mushrooms (and any other vegetable that stands up well to extended period of boiling is fair game) and nice, yummy chicken thighs! There are a million variations of this dish you can make, but it's really about making it your own. I mean, you ARE the one whose going to be eating it right?

Here's how I did mine (left to right, starting from the top left and move down the picture):

Steps

1. Peel/dice/slice/chop potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic and mushrooms. Quantity is really up to you to decide.

2. Brown the chicken thighs in olive oil over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, or until you see that all the surface areas are cooked, and the skin is slightly brown, and you can smell the chicken-y goodness. Remove from the pot.

3. Sautee the onions in the chicken-infused olive oil until translucent and then add the garlic. Sautee until the garlic starts to brown slightly. Remember, don't burn the garlic or it will produce this acrid, bitter taste.

4. Tumble the potatoes and carrots in and 'fold' all the vegetables until they are evenly coated with the oil. 'Stir-fry' them for about 8-10 minutes.

5. Now add a litre of chicken stock (I used Heinz...was to lazy to make my own) and top up with water until the vegetables are just slightly covered. Bring this to a boil.

6. Add the chicken thighs and stir gently. At this point, sprinkle in any herbs and spices of your choice. I used black pepper, white pepper, rosemary and thyme. (There's also a pinch of oregano in it, but that's because I grabbed the wrong bottle.. silly me)

7. Add the sliced mushrooms and stir once more.

8. Finally, slosh in a generous amount of wine (I used red, but you can use white if you prefer) and give it a stir.

9. Let the entire stew boil vigourously for about 10 minutes. Then turn down the heat to a low setting and let it simmer/stew for an hour at least. (Longer stewing time just makes the stew taste even more awesome, so it's up to you. At this point I usually go take a nap or something and awake to a house filled with the smell of chicken stew...mwahahaha)

10. Serve this with your favourite carbohydrate (rice, toasted bread, etc)

I served mine with butter rice balls. Just boil some rice, add a dob of salted butter and mix it in. Then roll into ping-pong sized balls. Do this while the rice is still fairly warm, unless you fancy cold rice balls. For those of you who can't take the heat, well, suck it up... if you want to cook, you better training those hands to get used to higher-than-normal temperatures. =P

Yummy yummy... Om nom nom...

Hope you get to stewin' yourself. Cheers! =)