Lazy-Day Chicken

I haven’t been feeling well lately, so that means I’ve also been uninspired in my cooking. I’ve been falling on a lot of the old standbys.

But recently with the cold weather and my added overall laziness, I decided to slow-cook a chicken. Slow-cooking, or braising, is perfect for my current lazy mood because you just prepare the ingredients, put them in a pot and then just forget about it, letting it cook for a nice long time. The braising liquid you create determines the flavor of your meat.

For a recent braise, I decided to try out one of the many spices I got from my sister for Christmas. I smelled this one particular one called Tabil from Tunisia and I loved the smell of coriander. I thought it would be nice for the chicken without overpowering it.

Most people would braise red meat because of all the tenderness that comes from the slow-cooking process. So some of you might not like braising a chicken because chicken really doesn’t take two and a half hours to cook. After awhile, it’s really just stuck in there to absorb the essence of the liquid and because I’m too lazy to fish it out. Some might find the braised chicken a bit stringy, especially the white meat, but I kind of liked the shredded feel of the white meat and the overall softness of the dark meat. Plus you get all that great liquid as a natural sauce.

The only challenge is trying not to bring the chicken out earlier than you should. I loved the smell of the spices cooking with the chicken. It filled my apartment with this wonderful aroma that I ended up getting hungry and wondered if I could really wait. But wait I did and I was rewarded with this tender chicken dish. Enjoy!