INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 (3 pound) roasting chicken, deboned and cut into bite size pieces
This amount felt a bit extreme, as I was cooking for just one person, so I simply dropped the recommended amount to 1 pound (500g).

2 cloves of garlic, crushed
If the cloves are rather large in size, try slicing them up in to chunks and then crushing.

1 onion, chopped

1 large potato, diced
Keep the size of your dices as equal as possible to the size of the chicken pieces you make. During the process of cooking the potatoes will soften up and seem to almost melt away. So by keeping the pieces fairly large, you ensure hearty bites during the meal.

1 teaspoon ground cumin
After seeing the cumin seeds I opted to go for the powdered form of this spice, as I didn’t quite fancy the idea of biting in to the ground shells. This is a purely personal decision from a very finicky eater.

1 teaspoon ground coriander seed

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Assumed that this referred to red chilli flakes.

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup water
Should I decide to cook this again, I plan to substitute in chicken broth for water, due to a suspicion that it may help add another layer of flavour to the dish.

3/4 cup unsalted natural-style peanut butter
As I said before, I’m not the biggest fan of peanut butter so I took it upon myself to reduce the amount required ½ a cup.
1 (15 ounces) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
I, unfortunately, did not have the foresight to research what exactly a “garbanzo” bean was before I began this particular challenge. Had I done so, I would have realized that it is, very simply, a chickpea! Instead, my particular dish included the substitution of Red Kidney Beans for what I assumed was a variety of bean unavailable in Sri Lanka. However, having done so, I do feel it adds a certain amount of colour variation and depth to the dish.

1 (15 ounces) can button mushrooms, drained and sliced own addition to the basic recipe, simply due to my love of mushrooms.

Most of what was required I already had in stock in my own kitchen. The ingredients that did require a trip to the supermarket, were fairly easy to locate.

Number of stops made for ingredient gathering = 1

Cargills Food City at Staples Street
Boneless Chicken Breasts (500g)	Rs. 360.65
MAS Cumin Powder (100g)	Rs. 116.00
Kraft Peanut Butter - Smooth (200g)	Rs. 600.00
Peacock Red Kidney Beans (425g)	Rs. 140.00
Narcissus Whole Mushroom (425g)	Rs. 147.90
Potatoes (792g)	Rs. 78.90
TOTAL	Rs. 1442.55

Ease of finding the necessary ingredients = 4 out of 5

Both the Kidney beans and the Mushrooms were quick to get a hold of, as the section for canned goods started the aisle off. If you are going with my variation to the recipe and are looking for some diversity in beans to choose from, you will find yourself plum out of luck, as even the attainment of the Kidney beans was a bit of a marvel (I only caught sight of 2 cans being available at the time).

Once again, the only slightly problematic item was the cumin, the locating of which, amongst the plethora of spices and brands that are available, was time-consuming. Managed to finally spot it in the spices aisle on the side that was closest to the cashiers.

DIRECTIONS

Preparation Time = 30 minutes (give or take, depending on how quickly you slice and dice)

Cooking Time = 40 minutes

In a large skillet with a tight-fitting lid, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and brown quickly. Remove chicken from pan.
Made the choice to leave the juices that ran out of the meat in the pan, in an effort to infuse more flavour in to the next step.

Reduce heat to medium-low, and add garlic, onion and potato to the pan; sauté for 2 to 3 minutes.

Season with cumin, coriander, black pepper, red pepper and salt. Do not let garlic brown.

Mix in water and browned chicken and any accumulated juices. Place lid on skillet and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes.
As I had already left the juices in the pan this point was moot for me. Should you be substituting broth for water, then this is the time to add it.

Remove lid, and stir in the peanut butter and garbanzo beans. Make sure the peanut butter is blended in well.
The addition of the peanut butter will cause the ingredients to bind together in to clumps and thicken the stew. So, since I like my stews with a bit of gravy, I ended up adding close to 2 more cups of water to the dish before leaving it to simmer. Along with the substitute of kidney beans, the mushrooms were also added at this stage of the process.

Replace lid to simmer for 10 more minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender. Remove from heat, adjust seasoning, and serve.

Since I had done pasta last week, rice became the carbohydrate of choice this time around. Only added about 10 minutes of extra cooking time since I used my handy-dandy microwaveable rice cooker. I’ve seen it available at Arpico in to different sizes and it’s an absolute synch to operate : just add 2 cups of water for each cup of rice you plan to cook, with 10 minutes on the clock if it’s one cup, 15 minutes for 2 cups and so on and so forth. Since it requires no regular tending you can out cut the extra 10 minutes I’ve allotted by putting it in before you begin your cooking.

Other than a slightly nutty flavour the peanut butter was barely noticeable. This may be an effect of lowering the amount used, but still it worked for me. Next time around, I’ll up the amount of water or chicken broth I use, just so the stew has a bit more gravy to it. Other than that, with all mistakes involved, it turned out to be an extremely flavoursome dish, chunky and hearty and well-filling.