Italian Style Chicken Stew

Sometimes I need to make lunch for my daughter and her friends of European origin. It’s hard to get something to plate which both would equally enjoy. This chicken stew seems to fit the bill. It has both Indian spices as well as Italian herbs.

 

Ingredients

• 1lb. chicken on bone
• 1/4th cup onion juice
• 2 medium sized onion sliced thinly
• 1 large tomato sliced lengthwise
• 5-6 baby potatoes
• 1/4 cup minced garlic
• 1/4 cup chopped leek (optional)
• 1 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp. whole pepper corn
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp. saffron
• 1/4 cup fresh cream
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. olive oil (you can use any vegetable oil)
• 2 tsp. all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. sugar
• Salt to taste

Procedure

 

Wash and pat dry chicken pieces and marinate them with onion juice, black pepper powder and salt..

Keep it aside for an hour or two.

 

Heat 2 tbsp. olive oil in a pan and fry the chicken pieces on medium low heat till all sides take a light brown hue. This way you can seal the juice of the chicken.

 

In another pan take butter and allow it to melt on very low heat. You need to be careful not to burn the butter. Add whole peppercorns to it followed by minced garlic. Sauté till you start getting a nice aroma.

 

Add sliced onions and leek and fry on medium heat till the onions turn a little brown.. Next to go in are the tomato slices.. Fry on medium heat till the tomato starts to melt.. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool down and come to the room temperature..

 

Put the fried mixture in a blender and blend it for half a minute.. Now strain the blended mixture through a strainer and reserve the pulp.

 

In a separate pan melt another spoon of  butter on very low flame and add flour to it.. Fry for a little while. Add the reserved pulp to it and pour about 4 cups of water to it. Mix well. Bring the mixture to a boil before you add the fried chicken pieces to it. Add the baby potatoes. Season with salt and sugar. Cover it. Allow it to simmer on low heat to infuse all the flavors together. When the chicken and the potato is just done sprinkle saffron strands and mix it well. Let it simmer for another minute before you add 2 tbsp. of  fresh cream to it. Turn off the heat and garnish with parsley. 

 

You can serve with garlic bread or plain bread..