Chicken Stew for Beginners

My elder son has been away from home for more than one and a half years now. He is away in another country pursuing his ambition of being a doctor. In the first month of his arrival in the new country, meals were prepared and served. Then, he survived on fried rice purchased on the way back from school. After a bad bout of diarrhea and a week stay in hospital, he has settled to cooking his meals instead.

Nowadays, he is a better cook, judging from the dishes he can talk about when he calls home. A mother often worries that her children will neglect their meals when they are busy with their daily activities. This will result in compromised immunity and they will easily fall ill. When this happens, there will be more worries.Who will take care of them? Will they be able to catch up with their studies after recovering from their illness?Luckily, I can email him recipes or refer some useful websites.

I decided to archive my recipes so that wherever they may be, my sons and daughters will be able to access my library. The dishes that I prepare will be simple, fast to cook and nourishing.


This is a chicken stew that I prepared for dinner today with my youngest daughter.


Ingredients:
(Cooks for 3)
1/4 chicken clean and cut to small bite sizes. Discard skin and excess fat.
A) 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1nutmeg, 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, 1cm ginger,3 cloves garlic, a few slices onion- Blend these ingredients. If you don't have a blender, buy powdered spices and chop the rest finely)
B) 1 potato, half carrot, diced
C) 1/2 capsicum , 1/2 tomato, 1 fresh chilli, a few pieces fresh mushroom
D) 1/2 tin Campbells mushroom soup, (or any ready made soup bought at the supermarket), 4 tablespoon tomato puree
E) Dash of mixed dried herbs (Optional)

How to Cook the Above:
In a two litre stew pot, heat 3 tablespoon vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, fry the blended ingredients(A) lightly under low heat until fragrant. Add (D) and 500 ml water.Stir the gravy and add chicken and potatoes. If you find the gravy too thick, add more water. When the chicken and potatoes are half cooked, add carrots. Cook for 5 minutes and add the rest of the vegetables.(You can substitute other vegetables like radish, sweet potatoes, turnips and leeks, etc and cook until tender). Cook for 2 more minutes, add dried herbs, if you want and serve.You don't have to add sugar or salt as the soup is already seasoned and \may be salty.
You can eat with rice.Tonight we had it with baguette.You can toast the baguette if you like. You can also eat the stew with normal bread.
This stew is good if you don't fancy too hot dishes. It is easy to prepare and is full of goodness. You don't have to cook other dishes as it is already a complete meal. Great for cold nights.

If there are leftovers, pack them in a small plastic container and freeze them. Micro-wave or heat them up whenever you are too hungry to cook.