Hearty Chicken Stew

For my first recipe here, I’m introducing an easy one. Hearty Chicken Stew is actually a variation of my Mom’s tried and true and utterly yummy stew recipe.

Cooking Time: Approx 1 hour

You need:

• 1/2 a chicken
• 3-4 potatoes
• 1 carrot
• cabbage leaves
• celery
• onions

How to:

1. First, I seasoned the chicken in the usual asian mix – oyster sauce, light sauce and white pepper. This time I added in some tapioca flour/corn flour and set it aside to marinade. Ideal marinating time is 1 hour but in a hurry, 15 minutes will do.
2. In the meantime, I prepped the veges which involved me peeling the skins off and cutting them into relatively even sized chunks. Onions were cut into about 6 and left chunky.
3. Start cooking by heating up some oil and browning the chicken pieces. This seals in the flavour, but you aren’t cooking it. When brown, set it aside and if you like, brown the potatoes and carrots and onions. I use a deep pot, but this time, I under-estimated and ended up transferring the lot into a kuali (wok).
4. Mix the chicken pieces back into the vegetables, pour enough water into the pot to cover the chicken, cover and let it simmer. I like to add a bit of thick black sauce into the mix as its cooking to add colour and a bit of flavour.
5. Now, entertain yourself for about 1/2 and hour to 45 minutes while the stew um… stews. The tapioca flour/corn flour coating the chicken pieces will help the sauce thicken as it cooks. Also, the potatos will break down a bit and add to the thickening of the sauce.
6. After 45 minutes or so, you’ll find that the sauce is thick and goopy and everything would be cooked thoroughly. I usually add in the celery and cabbage leaves towards the end at this point as they cook quickly.
7. Dish out and serve with hot rice or crusty bread or pasta.

Alternatives to consider:

This recipe can be modified for pork ribs too. However, pork takes a longer time to soften as opposed to chicken, so your cooking time will be longer.

If you’d rather not leave it on the stove, you can brown up everything, put the whole mix into a casserole dish or ovenproof dish, put in some water (depending on how much liquid you like in your stew but not too much as the water won’t evaporate as much in an oven) and put it into a hot oven for about 1 hour to 1.5 hours.

This is a very hearty and very comfort food dish. I love it as it reminds me of when I was a kid and this was the only stew I knew. And yes, its delicious and easy! You’ll learn soon enough that that’s my trademark! hehe…

Tagged as: Chicken, Easy Recipes