Mexican chicken wicked mole sauce, rice & veg recipe

Ingredients

• 2 carrots
• 2 spring onions
• 2 chicken stock cubes
• 1 red pepper
• 2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
• A couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 mug (300 g) of 10-minute wholegrain or basmati rice
• 4 × 120 g skinless chicken breasts
• 175 g okra
• 100 g frozen peas

• 3 spring onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ a fresh red chilli
• 1 dried smoked chipotle or ancho chilli
• 1 pinch of cumin seeds
• 1 heaped tbsp smooth peanut butter
• 30 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
• 1 heaped tsp cocoa powder
• A 2.5 cm piece of banana
• 1 lemon

1. Finely slice the carrots and trimmed spring onions, then put into the casserole pan with 500 ml of boiling water and crumble in the stock cubes. Deseed the pepper, cut into 8, then add to the stock with the bacon and thyme sprigs and put the lid on. Put 1 mug of rice and 2 mugs of boiling water into the medium pan with a pinch of salt and cover with a lid, stirring occasionally.
2. Trim and add the spring onions, peeled garlic and chillies to the liquidizer with the cumin seeds, peanut butter, a couple of splashes of boiling water, salt and pepper, then blitz until fine. Put into the frying pan, boil, then simmer. Add the chicken, okra and peas to the casserole pan until the chicken is cooked through, replace the lid.
3. Scrape the mixture from the frying pan back into the liquidizer and add the chocolate, cocoa, peeled banana and lemon juice, then whiz until silky smooth and season until it’s incredible. Fluff up the rice, finely slice the chicken and serve with the mole sauce, veg and broth.