dinner recipe this evening: cinnamon chicken and sweet n sour cabbage apple, serve with rice

Today dinner had some good distinct tastes. 

I often throw everything in one pot and it results in tasty curry or chilli or stew. Mostly brown colours and can be tasty but looks like brown goo every time!

I did lemon chicken last week one day limiting ingredients and focusing on getting some specific flavours. With pasta. 

We try to most often have home cooked tea/dinner together about 6pm/7pm. Fionn, myself and Daire are usually working from home so here at 6pm. Maeve gets back 6pm after after-school study MT-TF, home earlier Wed. Kate has circus/juggling Mon and Wed so late home (could be 8:80pm or until much later sometimes). Thur is family dinner night where each of us take a turn to cook and try make an effort to have something nice - hasn't been happening of late although Fionn & myself have generally cooked something those days and we're starting it up again this week.

Today veg options we have in fridge/cupboards NOT USED: swede, butternut squash, celery, sweet potato, spuds, red peppers, apples, lemons

USED Ingredients today:

2 packs 400g chicken thighs (8 or 10 thighs)

Aubergine - 1

Carrots - 4

Garlic - 6 cloves

Onions - 2

Yellow Pepper - 1

Cabbage - 6 medium leaves

Apples - 2 (1 cooker and 1 granny smith)

Condiments/other:

Oil or butter

Powdered: Turmeric, Cinnamon, Chilli

Soy Sauce, Vinegar (balsamic & apple), Brown sugar

Method: chop veg and add to pans/pots with spices - keep an eye to and brown meat & veg all sides, allow to dry out a little and brown but don't burn keep moving/add some liquid if needed 

Aubergine, chicken, carrot:

Slice aubergene - thin or half cm slices

Put heat low/medium on under a fry pan and pot (maximise surface area for browning up aubergine)

Optional: some oil/butter into pan & pot

Aubergine into fry pan/pot, dust with turmeric & cinnamon

   Keep all moving - allow to brown but not burn

Lay chicken on top of aubergine in pan, dust chicken with cinnamon and chilli

   Keep all moving - allow to brown all sides but not burn

Chop carrot - add into one pan/pot

   Keep all moving - allow to brown but not burn

   Adjust heat as needed - lower if things are getting too dry/hot

Put all the browned up ingredients into the one pot now.

Put a lid on the pot.

Free up the pan (no need to clean).

Cabbage and apple in pan:

Chop the hard bits of cabbage leaves.

In the pan start cooking up the cabbage - low/medium heat.

Add some oil/butter/spice if needed/desired.

Roll the cabbage leaves tightly together and chop into thin slices - shred.

Add cabbage leaves to pan.

Sprinkle about 2 dessert spoons of sugar over cabbage

Add some glugs of vinegar over cabbage.

Keep it moving in pan.

Chop apples in quarters, remove cores, slice (leaving skin on) and add into cabbage pan.

Keep all moving in pan.

Cover the pan. And keep going on a low heat. Occasional stirring.

Pot: add garlic, onion

Crush and remove skin and bottom from garlic cloves and add whole into pot with chicken & other veg.

Peel onions and slice and add to pot.

Put on the rice

Put on rice to cook in rice cooker or pot.

You can turn off heat under chicken pot after onion and garlic have softened a little.

Chicken with aubergine, carrot, onion and garlic and yellow pepper.

Sweet n Sour Cabbage n Apple

It still looks pretty brown/green samey but it tastes GOOD. Nom. :-P