Foodie Friday - Chicken Stew

It has become a habit to cook for the family every Sunday. Partly because I love cooking and partly because I love being able to feed my family well. Yup, am that domesticated. Lol

So mid week chats with Dumpling would involve food discussions where she'll tell me what she'd like for dinner on Sunday. Dumpling is pretty good that way where once she makes up her mind, she rarely changes it. I certainly had fun cooking things from Beef Pho to Roast Chicken and Ratatouille to local favorite hot dessert Pulot Hitam. 

Dumpling is not very good with beef at the moment unless it is minced / made into meat balls. So dinners will usually be revolve around fish / duck / chicken and I will soon be venturing into seafood. :)

We love stews as it is a great one-dish meal and with a few ingredients "meshed" together, stews usually are very tasty too.

Now, there are many different versions of chicken stews and that's why I love this dish. Each family recipe will be a tad different from the next. My mum makes it Chinese style where it is a clear broth version with some Chinese herbs. My mum-in-law's 'broth' is slightly thicker where she throws in some spices too.

I decided to try my hand at a different version last week and what came out was a combination of what we like at home and some recipes which I found on the internet. :)

:: The Gathering List
- 1 stalk of celery (my hubs does not quite like this vegetable so I used only 1 stalk. You can increase it to 2 otherwise)
- 2 sticks of carrot sliced (we sliced it into semi circles)
- 2 potatoes diced
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 can of button mushrooms (halved)
- 8 chicken drumsticks (chopped in 1.5" pieces)
- Chicken stock
- Fresh Thyme (a few sprigs)
- Garlic diced (I used about 1.5 tbs)
- Half a canned of diced tomatoes
- White wine (I used chardonnay)
- 2 tbs of plain flour

:: The Cookout
1. Heat up about 2 teaspoons of Olive Oil into a pan (I sometimes add a knob of butter too, decadent I know but it makes the dish so much smoother :p)
2. Add the onions first and fry for 1 - 2 mins, add the rest of the vegetables and thyme
3. After sweating them down, turn up the fire and add in the chicken pieces
4. Stir fry for about 3 mins and add flour. Fry till meat is no longer pink
5. (Optional) Add in white wine (I only added about 1/2 cup) and deglaze pan
6. Add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock, button mushrooms, then half a can of diced tomatoes, mix well
(Depending on the brand of canned tomatoes, I realise that some causes the dish to be 'sharper'. When that happens, I usually add in 1 - 2 tablespoons of sugar.)
7. Cover pan with lid, lower fire and simmer for 30 - 40 mins (so meat is soft)

We had it with French Loaf and mash potatoes. Serve hot!

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