TGIFOOD
Lockdown Recipe of the Day: Umleqwa
Umleqwa is also called a hard-body or hand-raised chicken that tends to be tough because it’s free range. It takes longer to cook than a supermarket chicken in order for it to be tender, but the flavour of this chicken is unsurpassed, writes Dorah Sitole in her new book, Dorah Sitole 40 Years of Iconic Food (Human & Rousseau).
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 whole hand-raised chicken, cut into portions
750 ml (3 cups) water
2 cubes chicken stock
1 large onion, sliced
1 large green pepper, seeded and diced
250 g button mushrooms, sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
10 ml (2 teaspoons) curry powder
½ x 50 g packet cream of mushroom soup
Method
Place the chicken portions in a large, heavy-based saucepan. Add the water and bring to a boil.
Add the stock cubes, lower the heat, cover and simmer gently for 2 hours. Replenish the water if necessary.
Add the onion, green pepper, mushrooms and potatoes. Season with salt, pepper and curry powder.
Dissolve the mushroom soup in a little cold water and add to the stew to thicken it.
Continue to simmer gently for a further 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary.
Simmer until the chicken is soft and falls off the bone. Serve on ting, mielie pap or idombolo. Recipes for both ting and idombolo are in Sitole’s book.
TGIFood Tip: Hand-raised chickens are available from downtown butcheries or township merchants. DM168/TGIFood
This recipe comes from Dorah Sitole’s book:
Published by Human & Rousseau. (Cover photograph by Roelene Prinsloo)
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I was very happy to see this recipe! I live in a village in the Eastern Cape (former Transkei) on the Wild Coast and cook imileqwa regularly! I make stews like this but also roast chicken (wonderful for Sunday lunch!). The flavour is unsurpassed, as mentioned in the recipe, and much much better than any shop bought chicken. Also it is good to know that these village chickens had a wonderful and truly free-range life. Umleqwa chickens do need a longer cooking time but I reduce that to just 20 mins in a pressure cooker or I use a hotbox. When using a hotbox it only needs 30 mins of cooking on the stove and then I leave it to slow cook in the hotbox for the day, thereby saving on gas. A hotbox uses no gas or electricity at all – it is 100% zero-cost cooking. To make a roast chicken, I first cook the umleqwa in chicken stock with some water (as in the recipe above) in the pressure cooker or hotbox then transfer it to the oven and rub with with herbs and butter, roast for 20 mins till golden brown.