MID-WEEK CHICKEN STEW WITH RICE & GUACAMOLE

Hey guys!

So first and foremost. Im excited to start working on my Cooking with Jaz website. I think its time for some change. Im excited for all that God has planned and thankful for all that He has been doing through this blog.

Now back to cooking.

If you're Kenyan, you love stew cause God knows we're all about those stews. I can't think of one person I know here who didn't have stew for dinner growing up and just about everyday for lunch at that banda, or dinner.

So yeah I love it too.

Here is a simple stew recipe I make frequently.

Ingredients:- [serves 3]
Chicken pieces [I used 6 chicken thighs]
3 red onions  

4 garlic cloves
1 tomato
Dhania/ coriander
2 large avocados
100 grams sweet peas
1 green pepper [hoho]
Curry powder
Black pepper
1 packet tomato paste/ 4 tablespoons tomato paste
Cayenne pepper
1 lemon

Prepare Yellow rice by using two cups rice, 4 cups water, a few drops vegetable oil, and one tablespoon turmeric powder.

For the guacamole:

Start off by chopping two onions. 

Follow by washing and peeling the avocados. 

Chop them in cubes and mix with the onions. 

Finish off by washing and chopping 1 tomato. Use an orange juicer to extract all the juice from the lemon. Sprinkle over the guacamole. The lemon helps not only with the acidic taste but also in preventing avocados from blackening. Put aside.

For the chicken stew:

Wash and chop the sweet peas and the green pepper. 

Take about 5 Dhania/ coriander sticks and cut off the leaves to chop them. 

Chop the onions and garlic and cook with vegetable/olive oil. Add the chopped veggies.

After a few minutes, add the chicken thighs and allow to cook for a good 5 minutes while stirring. Add chopped dhania/ coriander.

 Add the tomato paste, salt to taste, black pepper and cayenne pepper. 

 Stir well and add water to cover and leave to cook for 15 -20 minutes while stirring occasionally. 

Make sure stew is nice and thick. If it isn't too thick add some tomato paste, about 3 tablespoons.

Once the stew is done, serve with yellow rice and guacamole.

A COLORFUL NIGHT: RED CURRY WITH YELLOW RICE & A GREEK SALAD

Happy Tuesday-ing like a friend of mine would say. * Shout out to you Angie :-) *

How about a little spice to start off your week.

I've always been a fan of the red-chicken tikka that is usually charcoal grilled, but last night I was in the mood for a stew yet I wanted that sharp red color too. So I figured I'd make my own spicy meal and created a red curry. Bought some very strong curry powder, a whole lot of veggies and some chicken thighs and made what you see below.

Never been a  fan of yellow rice yet I needed a vibrant plate and the yellow and red clashed so perfectly :-)

The meal was even more spicier than I expected, I guess I owe that to the extremely spicy curry powder I got and to think I got the mild-medium one..tsk tsk....so I figured a nice Greek salad would sooth things down since it was basically a grated cucumber and some yoghurt.

Ingredients:- serves 4

1 1/2 cup Jasmine rice

2 tablespoons turmeric spice

5-6 chicken thighs

3 tablespoons curry powder

Black pepper

1 packet tomato paste

3-4 tomatoes

1 cucumber

1 courgette

1 egg plant

1/2 cup Peas

1 green pepper/ capsicum/ hoho

1 tablespoon royco

1 tablespoon tomato red food color

3/4 cup maziwa mala/ buttermilk/ sour cream

2 onions

4 cloves garlic

Ginger

Vegetable/olive oil

Salt to taste

Start off by washing the rice. Chop 1 onion. Heat vegetable oil in a sufuria and add chopped onions to cook. Add the 2 tablespoons turmeric powder and cook for a few seconds before adding the rice and water.



















Follow by adding the rice, a bit of salt and 3 cups water and leave to cook for about 10 minutes. Once it is done, cover and put aside.

Wash the cucumber and grate into bowl. Press out all the water with your hands since the cucumbers carry a lot of water and we wouldn't want the salad to be watery.

Add natural yogurt, a bit of black pepper, a hint of lemon and some salt. This salad is very simple and slightly sour. The original recipe calls for Greek yoghurt which is a bit hard to find here in the Kenyan market. I used natural yogurt which works as well but I'm still on the hunt for a thicker yoghurt. Put aside.

 Start of by washing and chopping all the veggies except the tomatoes. Grate the tomatoes and put aside. In a sufuria heat oil with chopped onions, garlic and ginger. Follow by adding grated tomatoes and then tomato paste and curry powder.

Leave to cook while stirring continuously. After that add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes are up, add the chopped courgette, egg plant, peas and chopped green pepper.

Mix 1 tablespoon royco in a 1 1/2 cup water and add to the sufuria. Cover and allow to cook for 10-12 minutes.

 After that mix 1 tablespoon red color and maziwa mala and mix into the stew. Add a bit of black pepper and salt to taste.

Cover and cook for another 10 minutes for sauce to thicken. The beauty of chicken is that it cooks very fast so no need to overcook. The aim is to for all the ingredients to blend beautifully together and to release all their flavors.

Once it is ready, serve with yellow rice and the Greek salad in a small bowl separately.

ENJOY

And for those who were curious about my short two week hiatus, this is why, my bestie recently got married and I must say God is amazing!!! Here's a snippet of how it all went last Saturday.

Just look how stunning she was :)

Her and her love <3

Two of the bridesmaids :)

Me and my love with the bride and groom <3

Also I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 7000+ pageviews-thankyou Jesus! and thankyou all for following and trying out my recipes.

-I'm now on Youtube, you can subscribe and check out the video here: CookingwithJaz

-I am officially on twitter on this account (@cookingwithjaz)

-I am also on facebook on this page "cooking with jaz"

-If you want to be featured on the "GUEST AND RECIPE OF THE WEEK" email me on "cookingwithjaz@yahoo.com"

-If you have tried any of my recipes, do tag me or send me the pics on any one of my social media pages

Have a lovely week :)

Sincerely,

Jaz.