Spanish Chicken In Sherry Sauce

Spanish Chicken In Sherry Sauce

This dish is one of my most favourite Spanish dish. Because of the sweet subtle taste of Sherry the whole dish gets a new dimension. While recreating this dish to suit Indian taste and cooking style I tried to avoid using Sherry first, but it never worked. So I decided to keep the dish unaltered. But for those who do not use any alcohol in cooking, only advice from my end is, you can try with Malt Vinegar instead, but I am not very sure, if it will taste as good.

Preparation time : 20 minutes
Cooking time      : 50 minutes
Difficulty             :  Very Easy
Serves                 :  4

Ingredients :

•  1 ( 450 grams) Chicken, cut at joints 
•  4 tablespoon Olive oil
•  100 grams Ham, Chopped (you can use chicken Ham or any other ham, as per your choice) 
•  1 Onion, Chopped
•  150 grams of Mushrooms,sliced (you can use Oyster or even Button mushrooms) 
•  150 mils Sherry (You can use any Dry / Sweet Sherry) 
•  1 Bay Leaf
•  Salt to taste 
•  Ground Black Pepper to taste
• Some chopped parsley to sprinkle

Method :

1) Wash , Clean and drain the chicken pieces well.

2) Heat the olive oil in a casserole dish and add the chicken pieces and cook until they are browned. Remember not to put too many Chicken pieces together. Then they will be braised and not browned. Though it is more time consuming, still fry the pieces in batches.

3) Remove the pieces with a slotted spoon and put on a paper lined plate until you finish browning all the pieces.
4) Chop the onion and ham and slice the mushrooms.

5) Add the onion, ham and mushrooms to the casserole dish and saute for 5 - 10 minutes.

6) Now add the chicken pieces back to the casserole and cook for a couple of minutes.

7) Pour in the sherry, mix well. Now add the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.

8) Cover and simmer until the chicken is tender (approx 20 mins).

9) Check the seasonings and adjust if required. Pour in a serving dish. Sprinkle chopped parsley to decorate, then serve hot with Mashed potatoes and a green salad.