After a bit of a stressy dinner the night before, I thought I’d better give myself a break and deploy one of my prepped dinners from the freezer. The original recipe this is based on calls it west African, but I can’t see why as the ingredients are more east African but then it’s a bit of a jumble anyway!
I prefer to call this Discovery Chicken as it includes tomatoes and chillies introduced to Africa by the Portuguese explorers from their colonies in the New World. Why not just call it Portuguese chicken? That’s Nandos!
Ingredients
1kg Chicken thighs, skinless and boneless (about 10-12 pieces)
1 x onion, diced
Thumb-sized piece of root ginger, grated
6 cloves garlic, grated
1 tablespoon ground Coriander seeds
1 tsp Cayenne pepper (reduce or omit if you don’t like spicy)
400g can chopped tomatoes
85g Sunflower seed or Almond butter (about half a small jar)
Half tsp vanilla extract
Method
Heat a tablespoon of Coconut oil in a casserole pot, or large skillet with a lid. Generously season the chicken with S+P then brown, in batches. Set aside.
In the same pan, sauté the onion and ginger for a few minutes until the onion starts to soften. Add the garlic, coriander, cayenne (if using) and stir well to combine. Add the tomatoes plus half a can of water and bring to a boil.
Return the chicken to the pot along with any resting juices and bring back to a boil before turning down to a simmer for 25-30mins.
When the time is up, carefully remove the chicken pieces. They will be quite tender. To the sauce add the nut or seed butter and vanilla, and give it a good stir. At this point you can break up the chicken and put it in the sauce to serve. I prefer to leave the pieces whole, as it’s easier to portion for freezing, then break it up in the sauce when reheating.