Ali Mandhry’s chicken stew

Ingredients

3 carrots cut into big chunks

Extra virgin olive oil

2 tomatoes, diced

2 bell peppers, diced

2 onions, finely chopped

1 small bunch of coriander

A mix of spices including curry powder, paprika, turmeric, black pepper, grated ginger

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 table spoons of salt

3 small eggplants cut into big chunks

2 small potatoes cut into big chunks

150g boneless chicken (optional)

1 small red onion for garnish (optional)

1 cup of vegetable stock or water

Method:

1. Start by adding the extra virgin olive oil to a pot that’s large and high enough to contain all the ingredients. Stove should be on a high heat.
2. When the extra virgin olive oil is hot, add the onions. Sautee them for 3-4 minutes and then add the diced bell peppers, followed by the diced tomatoes. Cook for another 4-5 minutes while stirring the ingredients, then set the stove to a medium heat.
3. Add the eggplants, cut into big chunks, followed by the carrots, and continue stirring the ingredients. Next add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the chicken. Once the chicken is coloured, add the mix of spices.
4. Allow the ingredients to cook in the pot over a low heat and add the stock or water. Then cook over a gentle heat for 15 minutes.
5. Turn off the heat and let the stew simmer in the pan. While it is simmering, finely chop half of the small red onion and place it in a small bowl with some lemon juice to lower the pungency. Then finely chop the coriander and add it to the stew.
6. After 5 minutes remove the chopped onion from the lemon juice and wash under water to remove the acidity.
7. Serve the stew in a bowl and garnish it with the finely chopped red onions on top.