Smoky chicken and chorizo stew with red peppers and butter beans

This dish can be made as sweet or spicy as you like by adjusting the amount of chilli and sweet paprika you put in. Leave out the cayenne pepper if you’d like it less hot. For the paprika, I recommend La Chinata, which can be purchased at Brindisa in London’s Borough Market, or online at Brindisa.com. It’s gorgeously smoky and will transform your dish. I like to make extra when I do this dish and have a few portions left over to freeze. It’s great comfort food.

Serves 4

For the stew

2 red onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 red chilli
150 g chorizo
2 tins of tomatoes
2 red peppers
1 tin of butter beans
Couple of pinches of dried thyme
½ tsp sweet smoked paprika
½ tsp hot smoked paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
4 free range chicken breasts, diced

For the rice

300 g Brown long grain rice
1 tsp turmeric

Prep

• Dice the red onions and garlic
• Remove the skin from the chorizo and cut roughly into 1.5 cm cubes.
• Chop two red peppers into large chunks
• Dice the chicken

Cooking

• Heat a little olive oil in a deep frying pan and sweat the onions on a low heat for about 5 minutes
• Add the chilli and chorizo pieces to the pan with the onions. The chorizo will begin to release its juices and colour at this stage, which will add a lovely flavour to the dish.
• After 5 minutes, add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Add the tins of tomatoes to the pan. Fill up both tins with a little water and give them a swirl round, before adding the tomato water back to the dish, so as to avoid any waste.
• Add the peppers, butter beans and a sprinkling of dried thyme to the sauce.
• Season with the sweet and hot smoked paprika and cayenne pepper. Taste and adjust the seasonings to your preference.
• Leave the sauce cooking for about 20 minutes and then rinse your brown rice and add it to a pan of boiling water, adding the turmeric at the same time. Give the rice a stir at this stage, but not again.
• After the rice has been cooking for 10 minutes, fry your chicken in a separate pan until cooked through – about 10 minutes. Once ready, add the chicken to the tomato sauce and stir through.
• When the rice is ready, you’re good to go!