Chocolate Chicken – A story of success!

Mmm….two delicious food items combined…chocolate and chicken. Does it get much better!? Recipe in a second

Before din dins, my mum and I went to the store to rent a DVD – but they’d only gone and stopped doing rentals! We came back home again [via a trip to a different store to get some fizzy flavoured water :p]. I’m going to make her watch Desperate Housewives with me instead Though I think Obama needs some lovin’ tonight; poor thing is really tense with all the shooting, she doesn’t like it at all. I feel really sorry for her – she’s had lots of cat treats today to make up for the fear

After that, we mucked out – highly entertaining – then I had another raw vegan chocolate brownie (there’s only 1 left now!!) and a hot chocolate…

… and between all these wild events, I got to cooking!! And I’m so very proud of myself!! I myself, yes ME(!), created this recipe! I had a recipe for Chilli Chocolate Chicken in a ’100 Health Foods’ book, but I didn’t have all the ingredients – and cos I didn’t, I had to alter the recipe somewhat (ie cooking methods, times, quantities etc etc), so it  was quite a different recipe. So different in fact that I feel I can call it my own And let me tell you -

it was delicious! My mum and step dad loved it too, as did I [obviously :p] – the sauce had a lovely orangey taste to it, with a twang of spice; it was nicely thick and runny at the same time, with tasty little crunchy bits throughout, and with a subtle chocolate flavour….if anything, it could’ve had a bit more cocoa powder, but all in all, I loved it! Which is why I’m so proud – actually cooking something proper that takes ages and has lots of different stages….yayness!!

Long recipe  – be prepared… This serves 3-4 people.

Ingredients

• 3/4pint ish chicken stock, with about 1/2 a head of garlic cloves, crushed, 1/2tsp mint (or 4 fresh mint sprigs), 1/4tsp peppercorns, pinch of salt and a clove added to the liquid
• an onion
• 250g canned chopped tomatoes
• 1 unripe small banana
• 50g blanched almonds, toasted lightly
• 1/2tsp cumin seeds
• 1tsp all spice
• 1tbsp raisins
• grated rind of 1 orange
• 1tbsp cocoa powder
• 3 or 4 chicken breasts

Method

1. Add the spices, garlic etc to the stock…(ie the first bullet point in the list of ingredients)

2. Boil it together for about 20mins or so.

3. Meanwhile, fry the onion over a low heat for 10-15mins

and set aside.

4. Add a splash of the stock, then add the chopped tomatoes and the banana (sliced), and cook til it bubbles:

Before reducing the heat and letting it simmer over low for about 20mins, covered.

5. Put the almonds and cumin and all spice together in a pan and toast til golden:

Then pulse them in a food processor til kind of…half a bit dusty and half chunky, if that makes sense! Set aside.

6.Put the onion and tomato/banana mixture into a food processor…

…and process til smooth.

7. Stir fry the nut/spice mix for like, 40 seconds, then add in the tomato mixture with a splash of the stock, wait for it to bubble, then reduce the heat and cook for 5mins

8. Add the raisins and orange rind and the rest of the stock:

Cover, reduce heat, and cook for about 20mins, or until the sauce has reduced by about a 1/3rd/is of a more saucy consistency, rather than a watery consistency.

8. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa powder:

9. Pour over the chicken, and cook 20-25mins/til the chicken is done:

10. Serve!

For my mum, step dad and I, I served it with wholewheat giant cous cous. They had sugar snap peas and beetroot ( I hate both :s), I had parsnip and crown prince squash:D I actually think the parsnip and squash complimented the flavours of the chicken and sauce perfectly

 

Best meal in a long time!!

I will admit to one tiny hiccup though…the oven decided today that it couldn’t cook chicken. So I had my veggies and cous cous all plated up, got the chicken out after 25mins – and it was still pink and raw!! Cue 5mins of intense nuking in the microwave at 900….the chicken was then cooked perfectly thank goodness. A temperamental oven is a GREAT way to get one’s blood pressure up before a meal!

To round off the evening, I finished off my tub of 2%, along with a hot chocolate and 2Guylian chocolates

Twas a good night!

I’ve got a half episode of Desperate Housewives to finish now, as well as some notes to make on some extremely dull chapters from a psychology textbook

So, good night!