Thursday, March 28, 2024

In The Kitchen With Kanta: Spicy Village chicken

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village chicken

 

The other day I was speaking to a friend that is from Rwanda, and we were talking about different types of African food.  He mentioned the contrasting ways that Eastern Africans and Zambians prepare village chicken; and I found this very interesting.  Now, I’ve got to admit that the first time I ever tried village chicken it wasn’t cooked very well; so it was really tough and I didn’t enjoy it at all.  I would say that village chicken is an acquired taste and it takes some time to adjust to.  However, when it is cooked correctly it is absolutely delicious, and I’ve got to admit there is something nice about knowing that you are eating something that’s healthy and not pumped full of chemicals.

So what is village chicken? It is chicken that is not fed on “special” chicken feed like broiler chicken. A village chicken wonders about freely, like Free Range chicken – it is not confined to the chicken run or a small space.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 1-2 hours

Serves 5-6 people

Ingredients

  • 1kg of (Village) Chicken
  • 2 big tomatoes
  • 1 medium onion
  • 2 tbsps of vegetable oil (or your preferred cooking oil)
  • Salt to taste
  • 200mls water
  • 2 tsps of tomato paste
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • ½ a tsp of chilli flakes/ or ½ a red chilli, chopped  (optional)
  • 1 tsp of garlic powder
  • 1 handful of fresh thyme, removed from the stalks and roughly chopped (optional) 

Method

On a high heat boil a medium – large pot of water.  Don’t add salt before the chicken is cooked because this will harden the meat. Cut the chicken into pieces at the joints; place the pieces into the pot and bring to the boil.  Turn the chicken after 20 minutes and continue boiling.

Cover the pot and allow the chicken to boil completely.  Once the chicken is cooked, add the oil and cook for 10 minutes.
Chop the onions and tomatoes, add them to the chicken and stir gently to allow the ingredients to mix thoroughly.  Add your tomato paste and spices; salt, curry powder, chilli to taste and garlic powder and allow everything to blend and cook.

village chicken.jpg 3

Serving

Remove from the heat and serve with vegetables (rape, pumpkin leaves or any other vegetable) and Nshima or rice.

This chicken can also be cooked without any spices if preferred, because village chicken does have some natural flavour.

Enjoy!!

 

Kanta Temba is a cake maker and decorator. She is also the owner and founder of Kanta Kakes – cake shop.

You can find her work on www.kantakakes.comFollow her on twitter @KantaKakes and Instagram @KantaTemba.

Baking with Kanta - IMG

 

 

13 COMMENTS

    • @dee, “..This chicken can also be cooked without any spices if preferred, because village chicken does have some natural flavor…” she said, so the spices are optional.

      I am only surprised Kanta is saying that “village chicken is an acquired taste and it takes some time to adjust to”. We grew up eating village chicken Kanta, and we reared them in our yard (mu citele ca nkoko) in a suburban location. So they would go out in the nearby bush (akapanga) after we ‘release’ them every morning (ukufunya inkoko) and then come home to roost as the sun sets.

      Each hen would be assigned to the siblings to see which one will lay more eggs. (Ukumona uwanaka umutwe).

      No, village chicken is not an acquired taste..

    • Wrong Modernized Chef??? Village Chicken with Spices No ways. Iam not a chef but will give you 2 out of 10 (Fail), because you have missed a lot in you method. Just boiling no frying? also you would have mentioned to use a traditional village clay pot? for it to turn brownish.

  1. ONE DOES NOT NEED SPICES FOR VILLAGE (ORGANIC) CHICKENS. IN ENGLISH THEY ARE CALLED FREE-RANGE CHICKENS. THEY FEED ON UN PROCESSED FOODS SUCH AS GRAINS, INSECTS, ETC. THEY ARE THE BEST CHICKENS ONE COULD GET FOR COOKING AS THEY CAN BE COOKED WITHOUT SPICES. FOR ONE TO EAT A LONDON CHICKEN, BEEF OR VEGETABLES ONE HAS TO USE SO MUCH SPICES FOR IT TO BE EDIBLE. MOST PEOPLE GIVEN A CHANCE WOULD BE FEEDING ON WILD MEAT BECAUSE THEY ARE TASTIER THAN GMOs (ANIMALS FED ON OVER PROCESSED FEEDS).

    • Absolutely right! Many people in the UK eat chicken from the supermarket that has been raised in cruel and inhumane conditions. This has been documented in films like “Food, Inc.”, and it is pretty horrific. Don’t assume everything in the developed world is better! Be proud of your Village Chicken!

  2. This demonstrates to Kanta her blogs weakness. Kanta is a Chief but not Media Savvy. If you blog professionally, the first thing you do is research your audience, that way you will know what to blog. I have been watching your blog for a while but out of kindness was not too critical on this aspect. But as a Digital Media Learner, I would say overall your blog lacks that understanding and also lacks originality. When you started you wrote that you are well trained and a Food Technologists, but you have mainly posted other culture food as though introducing it to your Readers, but time and again you have this conflict with your Readers that they can’t relate. If you want your blog to be successful, do try to show your talent rather than learned things. Introduce some originality…

    • Introduce some originality and always write for your Readers interests rather than assume they don’t know. Be an artist because talent rather than learning produces original fresh though and that means innovation. Good luck.

  3. The sauce looks unpleasantly watery and oily; you need a thickness like a spoon of white flour or smooth peanut butter…Kanta please put more effort in the photograph like you do with your cakes and pastries!

    • @Lodola, you are right. She should ignore the haters but admit it, Kanta really does need to do some research. Village chicken an acquired taste for Zambians and she is putting “her” recipes in a Zambian newspaper!?! She certainly is a better Baker than cook.

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