Braised Chicken - General Description
All lovers of chicken are well aware of how to cook it. This wonderful dietary product can be fried, marinated, grilled or in the oven. Chicken can be cooked, while receiving not only wonderful meat, but also a delicious rich broth. But the stewed chicken still always remains out of competition. This dish helps to fully feel the tenderness and amazing taste of poultry meat, because in the process of cooking the chicken retains its many beneficial properties.
It is believed that only turkey is ahead of chicken in dietary properties. But the turkey has not yet taken root on our tables. Therefore, chicken remains an unrivaled leader. Not to mention the taste of the product, the meat of this bird is much more tender than stiff beef and not as burdensome for the stomach as heavy pork. And in cooking chicken is extremely simple. And this is easy to verify.
Braised Chicken - Cooking Utensils
The best extinguishing utensil has always been and remains the cauldron. This is a cast iron or aluminum cookware with thick walls. Typically, in housewives, cauldrons are associated with pilaf, but this is only one of many ways to use this cookware. In it you can cook a wide variety of meat and vegetable dishes. The cauldron warms up evenly and not too quickly. This allows food to cook gradually and not burn. When using a cauldron, oil consumption can be significantly reduced.
In the absence of a cauldron, you can use a stewpan or ducklings, in which the chicken also turns out to be tender, juicy and fragrant.
Braised Chicken - Food Preparation
The general recommendations regarding the choice of chicken for stewing include the fact that it should not be bluish and thin. Young (up to 1 year old) and not too large (1.5 kg) chicken is an ideal choice. The poultry meat should be a pleasant light pink color. Good chicken has a fresh smell. If the color of the skin, meat or the smell of the product is in doubt, it is better to refuse such a purchase.
For the preparation of stewed chicken, you can buy a whole carcass, cutting it into portions, or you can purchase separately those parts of the chicken that are especially pleasant from a culinary point of view. Often used to cook stewed chicken sorted fillets. For this purpose, it is better to choose a breast, since then the dish will be as dietary as possible.
It is better to buy chilled rather than frozen meat, but if it is still frozen, in no case
Use a microwave or hot water to defrost. This will harm tender chicken. If you have to cook in the morning, you can take the product out of the freezer in the evening and place it on the lower shelf of the refrigerator. If you need to hurry with the cooking process, you can use a stream of cold water.
Braised Chicken - Best Recipes
Recipe 1: Braised Chicken Breasts
This recipe is for those who like a tasty meal, even staying on a diet. For cooking, chicken fillet - breasts is used. The meat is very juicy and will not disappoint the hostess.
Ingredients
A pound of chicken breasts, two medium-sized onions, three cloves of garlic, 50 grams of butter, spices.
Cooking method
To cook chicken according to this recipe, dishes with only a thick bottom are suitable. The presence of a Teflon coating is appreciated, but not necessary. The meat is cut into long thin strips, and the onion into large half rings. In a cauldron or thick-walled pan, melt the butter over low heat. Lay onion and chicken in layers. The first and last layer should be chicken. Close the pan and simmer the dish until cooked for an hour or a half over low heat. When 10 minutes are left until the end of the process, finely chopped garlic and spices should be added to the dish at the discretion of the hostess. Do not salt! Otherwise, the meat will lose in taste and juiciness. You can salt it on a plate.
Recipe 2: Braised Chicken in Wine and Tomato
Gourmet Recipe. This is something that is definitely worth a try, especially since almost nothing will have to be cooked.
Ingredients
One medium-sized chicken carcass, 600 grams of dry white wine, 5 pieces of medium onions, 200 grams of tomato juice (you can successfully replace 3 tbsp. Tablespoons of tomato paste), 3 tbsp. tablespoons melted or vegetable oil, salt, red and black ground pepper.
Cooking method
Cut gutted and washed chicken along the ridge. Grate each part with spices to taste and fry in pre-warmed oil until a crust appears. Pour in tomato juice (or diluted tomato paste) and wine, pour onion sliced in half rings. Close the lid and simmer over low heat until final cooking.
Recipe 3: Braised Chicken with Rice and Vegetables
Cooking chicken according to this recipe will have to tinker longer, but the result is worth it, because it is already a stewed chicken and a side dish. Such a dish will not go unnoticed.
Ingredients
Half a chicken carcass, 400-500 grams of rice, 2 medium onions, 1-2 medium carrots, 3-4 small heads of garlic, half a glass of vegetable oil, salt.
Cooking method
Wash the chicken, dry with a napkin, chop into portions. Cut the onion in half rings, and grate the carrots on a coarse grater or cut into small cubes. Pour the vegetable oil into the cauldron and properly heat it. Salt the butter in a cauldron. Put chicken, onions and carrots. Close lid and simmer, stirring. When the chicken is soft and the onion is golden, pour in rice. Insert the cleanly washed heads of garlic evenly into the rice surface without peeling them. Salt the rice and fill it with hot water to the height of the first 2 phalanges of the index finger above the level of the cereal. Close the cauldron and stew the dish until there is no water left in it. The fire should be medium. The presence of water in the rice can be checked by piercing it with a knife.
Recipe 4: Braised Chicken in Wine (Option 2)
A very tasty dish that does not take much time to prepare. Moreover, the wine gives the meat a special piquancy.
Ingredients:
chicken - 1 piece,
bulbs - 4-5 pieces,
dry white wine - 600 grams,
tomato paste - 3 tablespoons (can be replaced with 200 grams of tomato juice),
vegetable or ghee - 2-3 tablespoons,
red and black ground pepper, salt - all to taste.
Cooking method:
1. Washed chicken must be divided into two parts.
2. The meat should be grated with spices, and then fry on all sides in a pan with well-heated oil. It is important to achieve a golden brown.
3. There, you need to pour onion, chopped in half rings, diluted tomato paste, and pour in the wine. Cover the pan with a lid and then simmer until tender over low heat.
Recipe 5: Chicken stew with vegetables and rice (option 2)
This dish is very hearty and healthy. In addition, it allows you to do without a side dish, that is, one meal is enough for lunch.
Ingredients:
1.5 kg chicken
400 grams of rice
liter of finished chicken stock or a couple of cubes of chicken stock,
a pair of onions
100 grams of white dry wine,
3-4 cloves of garlic,
one fresh bell pepper
two pickled sweet peppers
200 grams of canned green peas,
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil,
3-4 tablespoons of tomato paste,
half a lemon
ground black pepper and salt.
Cooking method
1. Squeeze juice out of lemon. Peel and chop the garlic cloves, after which half the minced garlic is mixed with lemon juice.
2. Washed and then dried chicken should be cut into large portions, then grated with lemon mixture and spices on all sides.
3. Onions should be cleaned and cut into rings. In the same way it is necessary to prepare and sweet pepper.
4. Rinse and dry rice on a towel.
5. The oil must be well heated in a saucepan, then put sweet pepper, garlic and onion. Stew it all for 10-15 minutes.
6. Then add the chicken and after a couple of minutes put the tomato paste diluted with water. Chicken should be stewed until soft, and then taken out to a dish.
7. Pour rice into the stewpan, pour in the broth, wine, juice of pickled pepper or green peas, add spices - mix all this.
8. Put chicken on top and put the stewpan covered with a lid on low heat. After 15 minutes add the peas, warm for another 5 minutes and remove from heat.
9. Put the prepared stewed chicken on plates, using pickled pepper as a side dish.
Recipe 6: Braised Chicken with Paprika in Cream Sauce
A very tasty dish that becomes special thanks to the use of paprika, which gives a piquant taste, and creamy sauce, which makes the meat more tender.
Ingredients:
1 kilogram of chicken (as an option, turkey meat),
200 grams of heavy cream,
1 onion,
2 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons butter,
paprika and salt.
Cooking method:
1. The onion should be chopped and passaged on a tablespoon of oil until the onions are soft.
2. Pour half a liter of hot water into the pan and add ground pepper. Then put chicken into pieces there. The meat is stewed to softness under a covered lid. Then it should be taken out to a dish.
3. In a separate frying pan, melt the butter in which to fry the flour. Then transfer the flour to the sauce and, stirring constantly, boil the sauce for 15-20 minutes. Then add cream, salt and wait until the mixture boils.
4. Once the sauce has boiled, put the chicken back in the sauce. And stew it for 10-15 minutes under the lid. After that, the chicken should be taken out on a dish and pour the sauce wiped through a sieve.
Braised Chicken - Useful Tips from Experienced Cooks
In many recipes you have to cut onions. To make this painless for the eyes, a jet of water will help, under which the knife blade should be placed periodically.
When stewing chicken, the smell of cooking can destroy a slice of an Antonov apple added to the dish.
Rosemary and thyme are added only at the very last moment of chicken stewing. Only then can they convey the taste and aroma to the dish. If you put them out for a long time, they can leave bitterness.
