Masala Chicken Stew

My mother makes this wonderful Chicken Stew that she cooks with Sri Lankan spices.  When she came over the other day to cook with me, I asked her to walk me through her recipe.  Unfortunately, I did not have the unroasted curry powder that she uses.  So we worked together to come up with an Indian Stew that uses garam masala.  We turned out an excellent chicken stew and I now we have two stews that are noteworthy!  Now, this isn't your "spoon only" chicken stew.  You will probably need a knife, fork, spoon and of course some very crusty bread to eat this stew.

 Ingredients:
4-5 pounds of chicken (with the bone in, but skin removed)
4 large potatoes peeled and cut into large chunks
4-5 large carrots peeled and cut into large pieces or 1lb of baby carrots
1 bag of frozen peas
1 large onion chopped
2Tbs of Ginger-garlic-paste   
5-6 green cardamom pods
5-6 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 Tbs garam masala
2-3 Tbs of Worcestershire Sauce
1 cup of milk
1 Tbs of vinegar (2 Tbs if you want a real tang)
4 cups of chicken broth (or water and chicken bullion equivalent)
Seasoning salt
Pepper
1tsp brown sugar

Note:  if you do not have ginger garlic paste, just substitute 3-4 cloves of garlic minced and 2 inches of ginger grated.

Directions:

In a large stew pot, heat 3-4 Tbs of canola oil on high heat.  Then brown your chicken (seasoned with seasoning salt -I used Adobo) and pepper.  Brown in batches so you don't crowd the pot and then  transfer to plate until later. 

Next add your onion, cinnamon stick, cardamom and cloves.  Fry for 1-2 minutes.

Next add your potatoes and ginger/garlic.

Then add your ground spices, sugar and seasoning salt. Fry spices for a minute and then add your chicken broth or water/bullion, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and your chicken back into the pot.  Remember to put any juices from the plate into the stew too because that's a lot of flavor there.  Now bring to a good simmer.   Once the stew is simmering add your carrots.   Allow to to simmer for 15-20 minutes. 





 Once the carrots and potatoes are cooked through, taste for seasoning.
 Then you want to take the flour and milk and make a slurry (mixing the flour and milk together into a watery paste).   Add this to the stew and allow the stew to thicken up. Once the stew gravy is thickened, add your frozen peas and allow to heat through.  Do not over cook the peas so the retain their green color.   Serves 6 people  Eat with bread, rice, noodles or roti/naan/chapati.  Enjoy.

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