This is adapted from the fabulous Nigella Lawson’s book Simply Nigella. I find you can’t go too far wrong with Nigella and I cook a lot of her recipes. In the original recipe this uses the slow-cooker method but I’ve adapted it for pressure cooking using my Instant Pot. This recipe is then not only absolutely delicious but speedy too.
Don’t worry if there seems to be too much liquid when you first serve the stew. I find this quickly thickens as the stew cools down while eating. Any leftovers can be frozen or liquidized to make a delicious, hearty soup.
Although it seems a pain to cook the chicken on the bone then have to shred it at the end, this really deepens the flavour of the stew and helps to thicken it.
I’ve of course made some tweaks to the ingredients list as well as the method, replacing golden sultanas with the more easily acquired dried apricots and omitting the saffron as, unless it’s making a massive impact, I find it too expensive and too much of a faff. Also, I like to have a one-pot dish as much as possible so I stir in some baby leaf spinach at the end. Thus not only is it hitting some pretty good nutiritional notes, it’s also low-carb, gluten-free and dairy-free. Given that it’s delicious and easy – seriously, what’s not to love?!!
- 8 whole chicken thighs
- 1 onion peeled and chopped
- 3 preserved lemons chopped
- 2 400g tin chickpeas
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 500 ml chicken stock
- 12 dried apricots chopped
- 70 g pitted green olives
- 240 g baby spinach
- 1 bunch chopped fresh coriander to serve
- Put all of the ingredients, except the spinach and coriander, into the Instant Pot. Make sure the vent is set to sealing and set the Instant Pot to 15 minutes manual pressure cooking.
- When it is finished allow the pressure to release naturally then open the Instant Pot.
- When the chicken is cool enough to handle, dispose of the bones and skin and return the chicken meat to the pot and stir in the spinach.
- Set the Instant Pot to sauté, then reheat the stew while the spinach cooks down.
- Serve with a generous sprinkling of coriander.
If cooking in a slower cooker follow the same method but cook on low for four hours.
If cooking in the oven place ingredients in a large casserole dish and cook in a preheated oven (180°C) for 1 hour or until the chicken is tender and falling off the bone.
This is fabulous as is, but if you feel it needs something more you could serve with couscous sprinkled with toasted almonds and pomegranate seeds
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