Chicken Stew

It wasn't every weekday that I could muster up enough strength and self-motivation to cook after working for the whole day. But somehow, I was feeling the urge to cook something tonight when the husband mentioned that he would be home for dinner. So, I quickly went through my collected recipes, those that I had marked as "must-try", and found this Chicken Stew recipe which I had torn out from a 2006 issue of Simply Her magazine.

However, when I got to the NTUC, I realised that there weren't anymore potatoes and large onions. In the end, I had to make do with just carrots in the stew. Luckily, the carrots maintained their sweetness after the simmer and the stew was delicious.

Chicken Stew
(4 servings)

Ingredients :

- 1 kg chicken, cut into bite-size pieces (for added flavour, marinate with 1 tablespoon of Hua Tiao wine)
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 2 large onions, cut into wedges
- 3 large carrots, cut into cubes
- 4 potatoes, cut into cubes
- 500-700 ml of stock/water
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

Directions :
1) Mix flour with 1 teaspoon salt, pepper and ground spices. Coat chicken pieces with the seasoned flour.

2) Heat oil and butter in a pot and fry the onions until fragrant.

3) Add chicken pieces and fry till lightly browned.

4) Add stock, carrots and potatoes and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes until chicken and vegetables are tender.

Some modifications I did :
- I left the chicken to marinate in Hua Tiao wine while I cut up the carrots and prepare the flour mixture. (I did a rough gauge since it was not mentioned for how long should we marinate the chicken)
- I used the chinese five-spice powder instead of the ground cinnamon and nutmeg as stated.
- Instead of just simmering for 15 minutes, I did mine for about 30 minutes and the chicken was still quite tender.