Slow-cooked chicken in gingery and chilly flavoured tomato sauce with prunes, served with a sweet potato puree

The above dish is inspired by a Skye Gyngell's recipe. I've been reading her cook book and I am pretty amazed by the complexity of her flavours and textures. I tried to encapsulate the essence of her style in this dish, which turned out as I expected, a feast of tastes. From the fist mouthful I could taste the earthy flavour of the spice mix balancing with the bitterness of the lime, the saltiness of the tamari sauce and the sweetness of the honey. All this combined great with the sweet and hot, velvety taste of the puree and a refreshing green salad.

Ingredients

4 organic free range chicken thighs cut into pieces
sea salt and freshly grounded pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 big red onion, finely chopped
3 cm piece of fresh root ginger
a piece of tamarind resting into 2 tbsp of warm water for 20 min
1-2 garlic gloves
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black mustard seeds
1 tsp five spice mix
1 tsp of ground coriander ( fresh is better, root and stems finely chopped)
500 ml chicken stock
1x400g can of chopped tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp Tamari sauce (or according to taste)
1 tbsp of honey (or maple syrup)
100 gr prunes
juice of 1 limes (or according to taste)

First I will add the olive oil in a thick-based saucepan in medium heat. When it is hot enough I start browning the chicken pieces, turning them often to colour on all sides. When they are ready I remove them from the pan and keep them aside warm.

After I clean the pan from fat and chicken pieces I put it back in the heat and add the seeds, cooking them until they pop ( I could have already heated and crushed them from before). I then add the onions, cooking and stirring them until they began to soften. Following, I will throw in the ginger, tamarind water, garlic, chilli and the spice mix, continue stirring for another five minutes and then add the chicken stock, increasing the heat and bringing it to a boil. I will add the tomatoes, bay leaf and cinnamon and wait until it starts to boil to put the chicken back in the pan and reduce the heat to a simmering point. I will let it cook for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. To balance the flavours I will add the tamari sauce, the lime juice and then the prunes to add a bit of texture. I will give it a good stir, turn the heat slightly up and cook for another 20 minutes.

Meanwhile I have boiled water in a small saucepan and added two sweet potatoes chopped into chunks and a deseeded, finely-chopped chilly. After 20 minutes , when the potatoes are soft enough I put them in a bowl with some organic unsalted butter and work them into a puree, adding towards the end 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp of honey and a tsp of tamari sauce. I will adjust the seasoning by tasting it and add some freshly grounded black pepper.