Chicken with Chickpeas

This is a great winter dish and can be made ahead (even a day) and reheated to serve. I serve this with a basic coconut rice but Paula's Middle Eastern rice would also be a lovely complement. I also serve this with the Spiced Acorn Squash - the only issue it's a very "orange meal" so it need something really green (like the arugula salad).

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 small package of bone-in, skin on chicken thighs (3-4 pieces)
  • 3 – 4lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • one large yellow onion, thinly sliced (do not skimp on the onion)
  • 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
  • 2 tbsp gochujang Korean chili paste (I used President’s Choice “Memories of Seoul” sauce)
  • 2 tbsp grated ginger (I use the stuff from a jar)
  • 1 tbsp of fennel seeds
  • 1 ½ tsp crushed chili flakes
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 – 400 ml cans of full fat coconut milk
  • 3 c. chicken stock
  • 2 – 400 ml cans of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

Icing

SAUCE

toppings

  • Cilantro
  • Lime wedges
  • Chopped salted peanuts

dressing

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Brown the 3-4 pieces of chicken with the skin over medium heat in an enameled cast iron pot until fat starts to render. If the skin comes off no big deal, just keep cooking the skin. At this stage you are really trying to generate chicken fat and those nice brown crunchy bits.
  2. Once you have several tablespoons of fat , remove the chicken, discard any skin, debone the chicken and then brown all the chicken in the fat (you may need to do this in batches). Once browned set it aside.
  3. In the pot with the chicken fat add the onion and cook over medium heat until it’s translucent.
  4. If you find that you did not render enough fat from the chicken, do not hesitate to add a couple of tbsp of canola or olive oil.
  5. Add garlic to the onions and cook another two minutes and then season with salt and pepper.
  6. Next, add the Korean chili paste, ginger, fennel seeds, and crushed chili flakes. Stir well and cook until it smells good and stuff is caramelizing on the bottom – a couple of minutes.
  7. Then add the coconut milk, chicken stock and the chickpeas.
  8. Bring this to a simmer and add the chicken back in and simmer on the cooktop (covered) for about 45 mins.  After 45 minutes, take the lid off and simmer another 20 – 25 mins so it thickens a bit – the chicken should be really tender and soft.
  9. Serve with cilantro, lime and peanuts on the side.

TIPS & HINTS

The original recipe called for all the chicken have skin and be browned - which took a long time. Carolin and I discussed at length whether you could make this with boneless, skinless thighs and I think the answer is yes - kind of. I found that the original recipe produced more fat than I want and I poured most of it off which is why I recommend using only a few thighs with skins and boneless/skinless thighs for the bulk of the chicken.

‍