Malay Chicken & Paleo Pancakes

This chicken dish is super super simple (despite having loads of ingredients). I find it amazing that so many southeast Asian recipes use the exact same ingredients, yet can taste so vastly different. Also these Paleo Pancakes have been a bit of a game changer; I bought a bag of organic coconut flour a while back with a huge sense of optimism. I got really excited thinking about the potential savoury delights I could make with it.

Well, first up I attempted using it to thicken my standard gravy which resulted in a grainy/sandy consistency that in turn resulted in a choking fit. I'm quite glad this happened before any guests arrived. Although it did make me appreciate being alive and being able to breathe...so every cloud. But it also meant that a large bag of coconut flour has sat in my cupboard being consciously neglected for many weeks. But NOT ANYMORE all thanks to these pancakes. Definitely a regular addition to my repertoire now!

Written by
Ros Heathcote

Serves: 2-3
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil

2 large chicken thighs/legs with skin and bone included

1 red onion, chopped

2 stick lemongrass, couple of layers of skin removed

2 tablespoons of coconut cream/ ½ tin full fat coconut milk

1 pouch (324g) Free-Range Organic Chicken Bone Broth

1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled

1 large red chili, seeds removed

2 cloves of garlic, peeled

1 handful fresh coriander

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

1 splash fish sauce

a good salt (sea or pink)

black pepper

2 tablespoons creme fraiche*

*indicates optional ingredients

Method:

If you have the right kind of mincer, whizz up the garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chili and oil. Otherwise you can use some muscles and use a pestle and mortar to make a nice paste. You can keep it reasonably chunky, it needn't be smooth.
Heat a heavy based pan on a medium heat and brown off the skins of the chicken thighs. This should take around 5-7 minutes, you needn't move them about too much as the fat should just render down a bit as long as the heat isn't too high.
Remove the thighs. Add the paste to the pan and reduce the heat to low/medium heat and cook down for a few minutes until soft and beginning to caramelise.
At this point add the coconut milk, bone broth, star anise, cinnamon stick, fish sauce and chicken skin side facing up.
Cover and cook on a low heat for around 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Serve with the Paleo Pancakes coriander leaves and a spoonful of creme fraiche if you don't mind a bit of dairy, but it's not vital!

Free-Range Organic Chicken Bone Broth

Made using 100% free-range, organic, British chicken bones, Borough Broth Co's 24-hour slow-cooked organic broth is densely packed with 40% bones, guaranteeing an aromatic and deep flavour in every batch.

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