this is perfect for winter, nice and easy (a variant on all-purpose fish stew)
YOU WILL NEED
chicken <– deboned if lazy, and chopped small with scissors, or else with a CHOPPER
sausages <– any cheap type will do; last night was lamb-and-mint as i live in a turkish quarter
2 onions, garlic, tomatoes, big bag of white mushrooms
chillis <— powdered or dried fine, i use fresh scotch bonnet cz they look so nice in the shop, IF THIS USE ONE AT MOST
butter and olive oil, thyme, mixed herbs, bay leaf, saffron if you have it, chicken stock
^^^OPTIONAL BUT AN AWESOME PURCHASE: lee kum kee panda brand oyster flavoured sauce <— this is the best thing EVAH to go with wok-fired chicken, easy to find in vietnamese supermarkets, maybe also chinatown
frying pan
big casserole or AZTEC MARMITE
DO THIS:
— fry or grill the sausages separately, to brown them
(they’ll cook perfectly ok in the stew, but they look nicer browned)
— chop mushrooms nice and small, fry gently with lots of butter and some olive oil
— chop onions and garlic nice and tiny, add to mushrooms
(the juices will come out of the mushrooms, so as there’s a big old pile of it, it will be half-frying, half-steaming — keep stirring and try and let the liquid boil off somewhat, so that onions and mushrooms get a chance to fry a little; if yr lucky mushrooms will even brown a bit)
— meanwhile chop toms small (i can’t be 4rsed to deskin em), and boil full kettle
— add chopped toms and again allow to reduce (ie toms to lose shape and turn into mush)
(basically you’re always trying to boil off liquid at this stage to get everything back to very lip of potential caramelisation)
–chop chillis super-tiny (use rubber gloves and DON’T RUB YR EYES or anything else)
— add water, stock, herbs, bring to boil, allow to simmer for an hour(ish)
— add chopped chicken, chopped sausages, oyster sauce
— five mins and serve: the chicken will be just cooked and plump and juicy still
SERVE PIPING HOT!
(you will probably have enough for days to come — decant unfinished in tupperware, bcz it tastes even better next day)