Bean and chicken casserole

This warming casserole is adapted from a Domini Kemp recipe. Her’s is vegetarian, mine is not.

Bean and chicken casserole

Once everything was in the pot, I left it simmering for about an hour, but that was just because I was doing other things and wasn’t in a rush to get to the table. You will happily feed four people with this.

a tablespoon of olive oil

one red onion

as much garlic as you like

a good knob of ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

some chilli, again, what you like and how hot you want your dinner

2 chicken breasts

a tin of tomatoes

a couple of stock cubes

1 tin cannellini beans (I found these in the cupboard, possibly bought in the GB at Merode. Use whatever you can find in the local shop)

1 tin chick peas

a persevered lemon

coriander and spring onions

I served this with some cous cous mixed with coriander and spring onions, and Greek yogurt.

I just discovered I left out a couple of the ingredients, such as the curry powder and the orange stated in the original recipe. A lesson in re-reading through the recipe at the end if ever I heard one! Nonetheless, it was really good.

Heat a little oil in a pot and sweat the chopped onions. I grated the ginger and crushed the garlic and added both to the onions for a few minutes to cook for another couple of minutes. Add the spices and cook all of this for about five minutes, making sure it doesn’t burn.

Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces and toss it into the onion spice mixture to colour the outside. Pour in a tin of tomatoes and about half a tin of water. I added the chopped up preserved lemon at this stage and the stock cubes together with a little salt and pepper.

Rinse all the beans under cold water, drain and set aside. Leave the tomato mixture to cook and simmer gently for as long as you have (make sure the chicken is cooked through so at least 20 minutes. I left it bubbling gently for about an hour), before adding the beans. Cook for about 10 minutes and check the seasoning. You can sharpen up the flavours with some lemon juice and Tabasco sauce.