Mauritian inspired Chicken and Potato stew
(inspired by Daube de Poulet/Chicken Daube).

The humble chicken. For me personally it doesn’t get enough credit. Literally. In my opinion it’s one of the most versatile proteins (and healthier than red meat too). However I don’t think it gets enough credit for what it is.

We bung it in the oven and tell it to come out as a perfect roasted chicken for the family to enjoy at the weekend. But give it a bit of love and the plain old chicken can be transformed into a pot of warm, comforting fair suitable for the colder months ahead.

I personally would prefer for my family to eat more chicken over red meat….but alas we haven’t got to that stage quite yet.

So here is my take on a Mauritian classic Daube de Poulet/Chicken Daube. I’ve adapted this classic to make it suitable for the slow cooker however you can easily cook it on the stove top.

I have a system where I try to prepare a weeks worth of meals in a couple of hours. In this session I will also brown off any meats I will using during the week and I will either store them in the fridge or freezer depending on when I will be needing the product.

Now for some people this will seem insane; for me it opens up many opportunities of using the slow cooker even on a really busy morning as there’s no need to ‘brown off’ meat on the stove before putting it into the slow cooker. But this is something I do and it works for me.

You can of course skip the browning step if you wish to. The flavour in my opinion isn’t as strong (rather mellow).

So to make a classically inspired dish that easily serves 6 (I get 8 portions out of this recipe) you will need:

1 kilogram of chicken drumsticks (skin off)
1 tablespoon oil (I used rapeseed oil)
3 medium potatoes cut into medium pieces (smaller pieces will cook faster and essentially turn into mush)
1 large onion chopped or 4 TSBP of pre-fried onions (available in most Asian supermarkets-they’ll be cheaper in bulk too!)
1 can (approx 410 grams in weight-check the tin) tomatoes-chopped.
200 ml water or chicken stock
1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika (or plain paprika if that’s all you have).
1 heaped teaspoon garlic or garlic paste
1 small piece of ginger (around an inch)-whole
1 cinnamon stick
Salt-amount will depend on your own preference.
1 teaspoon dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh (dry herbs are more concentrated in flavour).
Variation (remember this recipe is inspired by NOT an authentic copy of the original) you can use other herbs. For a French twist try Herb de Provence. Again use 1 teaspoon.

OPTIONAL: 1 dried chili (for a bit of a chili flavour)

Note: the French variation can contain wine however a lot of Mauritian folk follow an alcohol free diet.

1) Heat the oil in a pan over a medium flame. Add the chicken, cinnamon stick and ginger and fry until opaque and a bit brown (bits will be brown but not the full chicken). Take off the heat.

2) Add all the ingredients to your slow cooker and stir to mix well. You’ll note that there doesn’t seem to be lots of liquid. That’s fine as cooking in a slow cooker uses less liquid (evaporates less).

3) Now you have two options.
Cook on high for 3 hours
Cook on low for 5.5 hours

4) Once cooked serve! The flavours literally develop more overnight. As you have the potatoes in the dish I haven’t suggested serving with potatoes or rice. Why add to the carbs?!

Enjoy.