Cajun Chicken & Three-Bean Chilli

Ingredients

• 1 large chicken breast, diced
• half a tin each of kidney, black and borlotti beans, rinsed and scalded with boiling water
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 thumb fresh ginger, finely grated
• 1 bell pepper, sliced
• 3–4 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes, plus a splash of water
• 1 small square (5–10g) 100% dark chocolate
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp each dried oregano, dried thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin
• ½–1 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and black pepper

Method

1. Mix all the dry spices together in a small bowl first — smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper. Doing this before you start cooking is the difference between a coherent blend and a panicked scramble at the hob.

2. Deep pan on medium-high with a tiny spray of oil. Chicken in with the minced garlic and grated ginger, stir-frying for 2 minutes until it starts to colour and the kitchen smells right.

3. Tip the entire spice blend over the chicken and stir vigorously for 60 seconds. You want the spices to toast in the heat and seal onto the meat, not sit on top of it damply.

4. In go the onion, peppers and mushrooms. Stir them through for 3–4 minutes until they soften and pick up all the dark spice from the bottom of the pan.

5. Pour in the tomatoes and about 50ml of water. Lid on, heat low, gentle simmer for 10 minutes.

6. Lid off, tip in the scalded beans and drop in the chocolate — snapping it in half is plenty, no need to chop. Simmer uncovered for 5–7 minutes, stirring gently so the chocolate melts through evenly. The borlotti will start to break down and thicken everything into a glossy gravy.

7. Taste it. If it needs sharpening, a splash of lemon juice or red wine vinegar wakes the whole thing up.

Serve it with

• Bulgur Wheat & Red Lentil Blend — soaks up the sauce best
• Perfect Rice, Every Time — or brown rice, cooked the same way