Slow-braised chicken with all of the chilli con carne flavours, served with pico de gallo …
This dish came from a simple idea – I really wanted a chilli con carne but had some chicken from a recent shoot. So, I thought to combine the two by slow braising chicken with all of the chilli con carne flavours and serving it with my favourite things. I love when I can prepare the sides that make the meal: tubs of pico de gallo, limey sour cream and avocados. @kittycoles
CHILLI BRAISED CHICKEN
If you want to do a longer braise, just turn the oven down to 110°C and cook for longer. It’s very forgiving with time.
Ingredients
Serves 4
• 4 chicken legs, skin-on and bone-in
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large white onions, finely sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp hot chilli powder or ancho chilli powder (add however much chilli you like)
• Salt and black pepper
• 2 heaped tbsp tomato purée
• 250ml white wine
• 300ml chicken stock or water
• 2 tins black beans
To serve
• 2 ripe avocados, sliced
• Sour cream
• 2 ripe tomatoes, finely diced
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 1 jalapeño or green chilli, finely diced (optional)
• Juice of 1 lime
• A handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 160°C.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof casserole over a high heat. Season the chicken all over with salt then sear skin-side down for 5–8 minutes until deep golden. Flip and sear for a further 2 minutes on the other side. Remove and set aside.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the sliced onions and garlic to the same pan to cook in the chicken fat. Cook slowly for 10–12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft and just beginning to caramelise. Scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan as you go. Now add all the spices and toast for a minute before adding the tomato purée. Cook for a further minute, then pour in the white wine. Let it bubble for 2 minutes to cook off the alcohol. Add the chicken stock and stir well.
4. Nestle the seared chicken legs back into the pan, skin-side up so the skin stays above the liquid. The broth should come about halfway up the chicken – add a splash more stock if needed. Bring to a gentle simmer, then cover and transfer to the oven for 1 hour. Remove the lid for the final 20 minutes to let the skin crisp and the broth reduce slightly.
5. While the chicken braises, make a pico de gallo by combining the diced tomatoes, green chilli, red onion, lime juice and most of the coriander in a bowl. Season well with salt and set aside.
6. At this point you can remove the chicken from the juices and stir in 2 tins or a jar of black beans (or any beans you like). 7. Ladle the chicken and its spiced broth into shallow bowls with rice. Top with sliced avocado, a spoonful of sour cream, a good heap of pico de gallo, and a scatter of the remaining coriander and an extra squeeze of lime.
Cook’s notes:
• Use a wine you would drink, not cooking wine – it makes a real difference to the broth.
• Serve with steamed rice, beans, or just on its own.