A proper winter warmer.
This dish makes the oven do all the hard work. Effortless flavour with simple ingredients.
Ingredients
4 x raw chicken breasts
2 x large onion
4 x carrots
6 x celery sticks
1 x tin of chopped tomatoes
3 x large garlic cloves
2 x vegetable stock cubes
1 x red chilli
2 x tablespoons ground mixed spice
1 x tablespoon of coconut oil
Optional Dumplings
200 g self-raising flour
100 g unsalted butter
OR
Ready made dumpling mix (i don’t judge)
Basic Summary
- Chop veg, chicken, red chilli, and crush garlic
- Measure out flour and butter (for dumplings)
- Brown chicken in coconut oil
- Add onions, carrots, and celery to the pan
- Add spice mix, tomatoes, chilli and garlic
- Add stock and mix well
- Cook for at least 80 minutes
- Combine flour and butter, and roll dumplings into balls
- Add dumplings for last 25 minutes of cooking time
Prep.
TIP: Read through the full recipe before starting.
Chop all your veg up into large chunks.
Peel and crush the garlic
Finely chop the red chilli
Cut your chicken breasts into roughly 4 big pieces
Measure out your flour and butter if making dumplings
Make.
{Preheated oven at 180°C}
Get your largest casserole dish on the hob at a medium to high heat.
When the pan is hot, add the coconut oil until it melts and covers the base.
Add your chicken and spread out in order to lightly brown.
After 4-5 minutes your chicken should be nice and brown all over. Now add 1 tablespoon of ground mixed spice, and stir.
Now add your onions, carrots, and celery to the pan.
TIP: If the pan is getting slightly dry and food is sticking too much, just add a touch of water to loosen it up. This water should evaporate over time anyway.
Cook the veg with the chicken in the oil for about 3-5 minutes, then add the second tablespoon of ground mixed spice, and season with a little salt, and lots of pepper.
TIP: You don’t need too much salt as the stock cubes will contain some as well.
The ground spice mix will dry up the pan quickly, so have your chopped tomatoes ready to pour in straight from the tin when the pan gets too dry.
After the tomatoes are in, add your garlic and chilli, turn the heat down to medium to low, and stir well.
Boil the kettle and dissolve the vegetable stock cubes in about 1 pint of boiling water.
Once dissolved, add to the pan.
Mix in well, and add more water if you think it needs more.
TIP: You don’t need to cover the veg and chicken fully, just enough so no ingredients are fully above the water level.
Now add the dish to the oven, without the lid on, and let time do its thing!
I would cook for at least 80 minutes, but just keep checking on it and stirring through every 30 minutes or so. You want your carrots to still have a crunch but your chicken to easily fall apart.
TIP: By not having all the ingredients completely submerged in stock, the bits on the surface will get nice and gnarly.
Optional Dumplings
Combine your flour and cold butter, and season with salt and pepper.
TIP: Try grating the butter into the flour to make it easy to combine.
OR
Add water to your ready made dumpling mix.
Separate into as many balls as you wish. The larger they are the longer they cook for. I tend to go for ping pong size balls and have lots that cook quick!
Add your dumplings to the casserole for the last 20-30 minutes of cooking (depending on size). Resting them on the top so they are have submerged in the stock. Again leaving the lid off in order to brown the tops.
Enjoy.
Prep. Make. Enjoy. 