Dukan Curried Chicken, Eggplant and Squash Stew

It has been cold in Amsterdam and I was wanting to make a nice, warm, filling winter dish - a stew!
This recipe has pulled chicken, eggplant, tomatoes, and butternut squash with a curried kick.

It was a hit!

What You'll Need:

• Large, heavy-bottomed pot with lid 
• 2 Medium-sized pots
• 2 chicken breasts
• 3 plum tomatoes
• 1 peeled butternut squash, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 large red pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1 large white onion
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 small firm eggplant, diced into bite-size pieces
• 2 tablespoons of your favourite curry powder - I love The Silk Road Spice Merchant's Madras Curry Powder. It has such a lovely and non-overpowering taste.
• 1 tablespoon chile powder 
• 1 cup chicken stock

What You'll Do: Pulled Chicken

• Fill one of your medium-sized pots half-way up with water to boil
• When the water is boiling add in your two chicken breasts
• Boil for 30 minutes
• Drain the water and let cool
• Shred the chicken and place in a bowl until you are ready to combine into your stew

What You'll Do: Stewed Tomatoes

• Cut an 'X' into the end of your tomato, so when the tomatoes are soft, you can easily peel the skin off
• Fill one of your medium-sized pots half-way with water to boil
• Add in your tomatoes and let boil gently for twenty minutes
• Immediately remove the boiled tomatoes and place into a bowl of ice water
• Let cool. Once cooled, the skins will easily peel away
• Peel the skins and dice

What You'll Do: Butternut Squash

• Pre-heat your oven to 200F (375C)
• Line a baking tray with tinfoil
• Peel, remove seeds and chop your squash into bite-sized pieces
• Bake for 15 minutes, you want the squash soft, but not mushy or it will fall apart in the stew

What You'll Do: Stew Assembly!

• Ideally as your chicken and tomatoes are boiling and your squash is in the oven, you will want to chop your onion and red peppers
• In your heavy-bottomed pot, add in your onions and peppers
• Crush your garlic and add into the pot
• Add in enough water to just cover
• Gently boil until soft

• When soft, dice your eggplant and add into the pan
• Pour in your chicken stock
• By now, your chicken and tomatoes should be ready to add into the pot
• Cover in your curry powder and shake in your chile pepper
• When the mix looks nice and thick and the stock has boiled down into the mix, add in your squash
• Gently stir until everything looks soft 
• That's it! Enjoy!

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2
Ease: 1 (it is not a quick recipe - you will need a good couple of hours to make)

Winter Root Vegetable Chicken Stew with Dumplings

For Amsterdam it is cold. There was actual snow that actually stayed on the ground this week.
When it gets cold, I want to eat nothing but carbs and snuggle on the couch so tonight I used some of the beautiful, fresh winter root vegetables I picked up at the market yesterday and make something warm and carb-crave-fulfilling.

This winter root vegetable chicken stew with dumplings is something I have never tried before. The gods of Martha must have been watching over me, because I must say this dish was heaven and relatively easy. You can use whatever winter root vegetables you have available. I used a parsnip and tried a Dragon Carrot as it looked fun. Long, purple with a white centre which gave this stew a lovely purple hue.

What You'll Need
For the stew:

• 1 large, covered pot
• 1 medium-sized onion
• 2 Tbps butter
• 2 Tbps vegetable oil
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1 clove of fresh garlic
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 Tbps Herbs de Provence
• 1 tsp Asian 5 Spice
• 2 Tbps fresh or dried dill
• 1 Tbps your favourite curry powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon (weird right? Well, trust me!)
• 1 large parsnip, 1 large dragon carrot, 8 medium sized carrots. As long as you have about 4-5 cups of chopped root vegetables, you can use any kind available to you. Turnips, beets, rutabaga, etc. All would work well. Just make sure you are using more than one kind
• 1.5 cups of diced tomato
• 1 whole, roasted chicken
• 2 Tbps flour or cornstarch (if you are looking for gluten-free)

For the Dumplings:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbps baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbps butter
• 1/2 cup milk

What You'll Do:

• Dice your onion
• Chop your root vegetables and carrots into bite sized pieces, not too small or they will turn mushy
• Chop your dill
• Add in the butter and oil into your pan to melt
• Add in your onion and twists of fresh back pepper

• Squeeze in your freshly pressed garlic
• Let cook down until nice and soft
• Toss in the chopped vegetables

• Boil 2 cups of water, add in your Asian 5 Spice and Herbs de Provence, stir
• Pour the water and spice mixture over top of the chopped root veggies
• Add your curry powder, dill and cinnamon

• Stir thoroughly
• Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes
• While simmering, start to pull the chicken off your pre-roasted chicken. I bought a pre-cooked one today as I didn't want to spend all day in the kitchen :)

 

• Add in the diced tomatoes, stir
• Cover and let simmer for 10 minutes
• Add in your pre-cooked, roast chicken pieces, stir
• Cover and let simmer
• While simmering, make your dumpling mixture
• In a separate bowl, add in your flour, salt and baking powder

• Using two butter knives, cut in your butter until the flour mixture is crumbly
• Add in your milk and stir until combined
• Lift the lid of the pot and drop your dumpling mix, in equal-sized portions onto the top, leaving space in-between each dumpling

• Cover and let steam away for ten minutes
• Lift the lid and see your cute little dumplings, all plump and tasty looking
• By this point, your stew is nearly done, if it is too watery, what I did was, using a slotted spoon remove the dumplings gently and rest them on a plate. Then remove the veggies and chicken into a bowl
• Now you are left with the juices to thicken up. Using flour (or cornstarch), sprinkle onto the juice and stir rapidly until desired thickness is reached
• Then add back in your veggie mixture, stir and gently place the dumplings on top
• Serve and enjoy...maybe with a nice glass of red.

The STEWART SCORE:
Appearance: 2
Taste: 2
Ease: 1 (it is a little time consuming, but using a pre-cooked chicken saves you some time!)