Serendipity Casserole

Serendipity

I love that word - serendipity!  It makes simple things super without adding calories.

Last weekend I hosted a birthday lunch for my aunt and I was more than a bit shattered but I had invited a friend for lunch on Tuesday so I had to do some cooking.  I really didn't want to go shopping so the meal had to come from the freezer - and my head!

I'd got a bag of frozen chicken thighs lurking in there so that was the starting point.  I love chicken thighs - not only are they the tastiest part of the bird they are also the cheapest.  Anyway, I put the whole bagful into the slow cooker.  I chopped a couple of onions and sweated them with a little oil and then added a little cornflour.  I then added to the onions a can of chopped tomatoes and some crushed garlic, chopped ginger,  coriander, saffron, cayenne and cinnamon.  (Sorry about the lack of quantities but this is a serendipity casserole!)  A little honey seemed like a good idea so I added that.  I bunged the lot into the slow cooker with the chicken.  I found a can of chickpeas in the food cupboard so that went in along with some dried apricots and prunes.  Last but not least I chopped the last few carrots from the fridge and added those.

Four hours later I served it with couscous and sultanas.  It was wonderful.

Yesterday I found a pack of haricot beans in the cupboard.  I'm going to have a bash at the same recipe using these beans instead of chicken and chickpeas