SWEET AND SOUR CHICKEN IN A CHOCOLATEY SAUCE

Ingredients
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
50g bacon, diced
2 tsp brown sugar
8 chicken drumsticks and thighs
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
75ml red wine vinegar
300ml chicken stock
50g currants
40g dark chocolate, chopped
50g cashew nuts
salt and pepper to taste


Method:
Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pot and gently fry the onion and bacon for five minutes until golden. Add the sugar and chicken and fry for a further five minutes, turning the chicken frequently until it is golden. Add the garlic, bay leaves, vinegar and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover with a lid and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through and tender. Stir in the currants, chocolate and nuts into the sauce and cook gently for five minutes. Season to taste.
Serves 4.

KK Tip
This Italian dish suits almost any occasion and works great served with ugali to mop up the sweet, tangy chocolate juices. Shape your ugali into triangles or diamonds and serve on a platter, stacked up against each other for a fun presentation. Try out pine nuts instead of the cashews for a different look.
CHICKEN TIPS

Cover the breast area with foil to avoid it drying out - which it is prone to doing - during roasting. Uncover it during the last half hour of cooking to allow it to brown.
If you are watching your weight, remove the skin from the chicken before eating it. The skin contains 70 per cent of the fat content.
Keep everything that comes into contact with raw chicken, clean. Wash cutting boards and knives in hot soapy water. Hands should be washed thoroughly both before and after handling.
When roasted chicken is ready, let it stand for about 20 minutes before carving.
If freezing chicken, make sure that it is completely covered as freezing dries it out making the meat hard. If possible, completely avoid freezing chicken.
Different parts of chicken get done at different times. Check on each piece of chicken so you can remove them as they get done. This will ensure that they don't get overcooked.
If baking chicken leave enough space on the pan to enable even cooking and proper browning.