Chicken stew: recipes, choice of products, cooking sequence

Ragu is one of the most common and favorite dishes in Russian cuisines. Ever since cooking in home ovens, stews were in high esteem in our country, and stewed meat with potatoes and vegetables has become a classic of national cuisine. The stew is striking in the countless recipe options, it is prepared by combining various vegetables and mushrooms, with and without meat, experimenting with all kinds of spices and herbs.

Chicken stews are dishes that combine ease of preparation and great taste. Even a novice housewife can easily cope with it, she just needs to follow some rules and follow a simple algorithm. Such a stew is very difficult to spoil, but it is easy for them to feed their loved ones, pleasantly surprising them with culinary abilities.

Product selection

First of all, you should take care of the choice of products. In general, stew can be called the savior of food. If vegetables, mushrooms or greens are stale in the refrigerator and have lost their fresh appearance, then they do not need to be thrown away, it is better to buy chicken and make chicken vegetable stew. It is fast, tasty and economical. However, from fresh vegetables, the dish is juicier and more beautiful.

• Meat. In chicken stew there should be a dominant taste, around which the whole flavor bouquet is built. Chicken legs, fillet, and thighs are perfect for this role. With fillets less to mess around, the meat is tender, lean and healthy. From meat on bones, a rich and rich sauce is obtained that impregnates vegetables. It is better to take fresh, but thawed will do.
• Vegetables. In principle, any vegetables can be used in stews, but it’s more reasonable to follow the measure. Otherwise, the dish will look like porridge, and too many vegetable flavors will turn into a culinary cacophony, and not into a harmoniously sounding ensemble. Chicken meat goes well with stews with three to five vegetables.
• Onions, minced garlic and carrots are present in almost any recipe, they play the role of frying. In addition to them, you can choose two or three vegetables. For example, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes or eggplant, mushrooms and tomatoes. If there are potatoes, turnips or cabbage in chicken stew, then they must first be brought to half-preparedness: fry, stew or boil. The fact is that chicken stewed for 40 minutes, that is, faster than these vegetables.

Water or broth. Water is usually added to the stew, which becomes the basis of the sauce. Water quality largely determines the final result, so you need to use only good drinking water, ideally key. Some housewives choose a vegetable or meat broth, making the taste of the dish more saturated. But in the recipe for chicken stew, this technique seems overkill, the sauce will turn out to be rich.

The consistency of the dish depends on the amount of liquid added. So that it does not turn into something between soup and porridge, water should be added carefully, and in some cases, completely abandon it. For example, if the recipe has a lot of juicy tomatoes, zucchini or mushrooms, then their own juice may well be enough to make stew.

Spices and herbs. There is full scope for culinary experiences. Mandatory ingredients are salt, hot and ground pepper. Desirable: bay leaf, fresh herbs, nutmeg, coriander. Original: mint leaves, cinnamon, basil. There are no strict rules, it is enough to follow your own culinary experience, because most people cooking over the years have a set of their favorite spices, which they put almost on the machine.

Tableware

The dishes suitable for chicken stew should be voluminous, with thick walls and a tight lid. In such dishes, the products do not burn, they are stewed evenly, the heat almost does not go away. The best options: high-quality stewpan, thick-walled cast iron, ducklings and cauldrons, large ceramic pots. A wonderful stew is obtained in a slow cooker, in which the effect of a Russian stove is created.

Cooking principle

All stews are cooked according to one principle: meat and vegetables are cut into small pieces, and then sequentially fried together or separately, then mixed in one bowl and stewed in their own juice or with the addition of water or broth. Stew can be cooked over a slow stove, languish in a slow cooker or oven.

Fry the ingredients together or separately, everyone decides for himself. Together faster and more convenient, less utensils are used. But you need to feel when laying the next product, otherwise it is likely that some vegetables will boil out or be half-baked. Separate roasting promises great trouble, but the dish is guaranteed to be beautiful and tasty.

Sequencing

1. Wash and chop vegetables and herbs, butcher meat.
2. Brown the meat in a small amount of butter.
3. In order to add to it, stirring, onions, carrots, other vegetables.
4. If the recipe contains potatoes or cabbage, it is advisable to pre-fry them or boil them until half cooked.
5. Separate heat treatment. Fry the chicken and set aside in a separate plate. Then fry separately onions and carrots; potatoes; tomatoes and bell peppers. And then mix all the foods in a stew pan.
6. Add water if necessary. Add salt and seasoning to your taste. You can immediately put the greens, but many cooks prefer to add it 10 minutes to the end until the dishes are ready.
7. Cover tightly with a lid and without stirring, simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Useful tips and cooking secrets

Each cook has his own secret of cooking stew. Here are the main ones:

• Chicken skin needs to be thrown away, it has little taste and a lot of fat.
• Vegetable stew with chicken or breast is much tastier if the meat is marinated in advance, for example, in soy sauce, seasonings and vegetable oil.
• The beauty of the dish largely depends on how carefully and equally chopped the vegetables are. In addition, culinary aesthetes advise using products of different colors: yellow, green and orange peppers; scarlet tomatoes; green broccoli and peas; white potatoes and so on.
• It is better to remove a hard peel from tomatoes.
• In the season when tomatoes are too expensive and watery, you can replace them with good tomato paste or buy canned tomatoes.
• A dish will become piquant if you add a couple of tablespoons of high-quality goose or duck fat while frying foods. This technique is especially appropriate in chicken stew with potatoes, with which fat goes well.
• If the recipe has a lot of acidic foods (peppers, tomatoes or even sauerkraut), then a pinch of sugar should be added along with salt, it will soften the sour taste.

Stew with whole chicken and eggplant

Ingredients:

• Chicken - an average carcass, one and a half kilograms.
• Eggplant - 0.5-0.7 kg.
• Onions - a pair of medium heads.
• Garlic - a few wedges.
• Carrots - 0.3 kg.
• Bell pepper - 0.5 kg (preferably multi-colored).
• Tomatoes - 0.5 kg.
• Sugar - one pinch.
• Spices and salt - to your liking.

Cooking:

1. Cut the bird into small portions, removing the skin. Pickle for a couple of hours.
2. Chop the onion in half rings.
3. Cut the remaining vegetables into approximately equal cubes.
4. Fry the bird in a skillet until golden brown and put it in a stew stewing dish.
5. Fry the onion in the same pan, and then add the tomatoes, garlic, carrots and bell peppers to it, fry for 5 minutes, stirring vigorously.
6. Transfer vegetables to the bird, mix, add sugar and spices, salt, add some water, if necessary. Half an hour to simmer in the oven or simmer on a very slow fire stove.

Italian style stew

Ingredients:

• Chicken fillet - 0.4 kg (you can take half the weight of the chicken fillet, half the turkey fillet).
• Cherry Tomatoes - 10 pieces.
• Sweet pepper - 2-3 pieces (better than different colors).
• Ground black pepper and salt - to individual taste.

Cooking:

1. Cut the fillet into small pieces.
2. Cherry cut into quarters, and sweet pepper - neat straws.
3. Stir meat for 10 minutes.
4. Add vegetables and spices to the chicken, simmer over low heat for another 10 minutes. Stew is excellent as a pasta sauce.

Mexican stew

Ingredients:

• Chicken meat - 0.5 kg.
• Red beans and corn - one jar each.
• String beans - 0.2 kg.
• Onion - a pair of heads (for beauty, you can take a salad).
• Hot pepper - 1 pod (can be replaced with dry hot pepper).
• Bulgarian pepper - 2 pieces (it is better to take yellow and red to match the color of corn and beans).
• Tomatoes - 0.3 kg.
• Cinnamon - half a teaspoon (gives the dish a southern flavor).
• Spices and salt - to your liking.

Cooking:

1. Sequentially fry for two to three minutes in a cauldron or a stew-pan of half an onion; cubes of bell pepper; cubes of tomatoes; beans and corn (drain the liquid from the cans).
2. Then add pieces of meat and a little water to the vegetables.
3. Add rings of hot pepper, salt, cinnamon and other spices to the vegetable mixture.
4. Stew until the chicken is cooked, that is, about 30-40 minutes. If the chicken is first fried, then simmer for about 20 minutes.

Chicken stew with vegetables and beer in a slow cooker

Ingredients:

• Chicken meat - 0.7 kg (it is better to use hips or breast to make the sauce richer).
• Leek - One Piece.
• Celery - three stalks.
• Potato - 0.7 kg.
• Carrots - 0.2 kg.
• Salt and spices - according to individual taste.
• Beer - one bottle (0.5 l).

Cooking:

This Irish stew turns out very well in a slow cooker, where the lid is covered very tightly and the liquid almost does not evaporate. The result is a dish in which the tastes of vegetables, meat and beer are harmoniously interwoven.

1. Fry large pieces to a weak crust in a slow cooker.
2. To the meat add celery, carrots and leek, sliced ​​in circles half a centimeter thick. Stir fry for several minutes.
3. Add large pieces of potato to the multicooker bowl. It is better to boil it in advance until half-cooked.
4. Salt, add beer and spices. Stew until the potatoes are completely soft.

Stew with chicken breast, zucchini and basil

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast - approximately 1.5 kg (without skin).
• Onions - one head.
• Zucchini - 0.5 kg (in purified form).
• Tomatoes - 0.5 kg (it is more convenient to use tomatoes in your own juice).
• Bell pepper - 1 piece.
• Garlic - 2-3 cloves.
• Fresh basil leaves - a few pieces (in winter you can replace dry basil).
• Salt and spices to your taste.

Cooking:

1. Fry the breasts until golden brown and set aside.
2. In the same bowl, fry: onion (3-4 minutes); diced zucchini and bell peppers (7-10 minutes); tomatoes (3-4 minutes).
3. Combine meat and vegetables, add salt and your favorite spices. Stew for 20-30 minutes.
4. Add finely chopped basil leaves and garlic. Be sure to let the vegetable stew with chicken breast infuse.