Chicken Stew with Coriander, Cilantro, and Chard

Enjoy this brothy chicken stew recipe. It's fresh, light, and bright with chard, coriander and cilantro.

Coriander Chicken Cilantro Chard Stew
Elise Bauer

Now here's an oft neglected spice—coriander seeds, what you get when you let your cilantro plants go to seed. Although from the same plant as cilantro, the seeds have a distinctively different taste from the leaves. There's just a hint of familiarity between them.

This recipe, in which coriander is one of the star attractions, comes by way of my friend Aida Mollenkamp, author of the the highly instructive cookbook Keys to the Kitchen: The Essential Reference for Becoming a More Accomplished, Adventurous Cook.

The recipe caught my eye because of its other ingredients—chicken, cilantro, and the princess of leafy greens, Swiss chard.

The coriander?

That was the wild card. But oh my oh my, I love it in this dish.

This stew is seriously one of the best things I've ever eaten. What a delight to discover how well coriander can play with chicken and greens!

Coriander Chicken Cilantro Chard Stew
Elise Bauer

By the way, I highly recommend that you check out Aida's book, especially if you are relatively new to cooking, or would just like to improve your cooking skills. The book is packed with useful diagrams, step-by-step techniques, and helpful cooking advice.

Chicken Stew with Coriander, Cilantro, and Chard

Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 75 mins
Total Time 90 mins
Servings 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

Broth

  • 10 cardamom pods (or 1 1/2 teaspoons cardamom seeds)

  • 10 black peppercorns

  • 1 cinnamon stick

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 1/2 red onion

  • 1/2 lemon

  • 1 whole 4 pound (2 kg) chicken, cut into parts

  • 9 cups water

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

Stew

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

  • 6 to 8 cloves garlic, minced

  • 2 tablespoons ground coriander seeds

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

  • 4 cups roughly chopped cilantro, including tender stems, loosely packed (about 120 g)

  • 4 to 5 cups broth (you will make this in the recipe)

  • 1/2 red onion, finely chopped

  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

  • 2 pounds chard, ribs removed, leaves cut crosswise into 1 inch strips

  • Salt

Method

The Broth

  1. Start making the broth

    If you are using cardamom pods, break them open in a mortar and pestle or with the handle of a chef's knife. Crack the black peppercorns as well.

    Put the crushed cardamom and black peppercorns, cinnamon stick, bay leaf, onion, lemon, and chicken into a large pot.

    Add 9 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Skim any any frothy scum that collects on the surface of the broth.

    Elise Bauer
  2. Remove the chicken

    After about 20 minutes, remove the chicken breast pieces and set aside.

    Once the broth has cooked for 45 minutes to an hour (the timing doesn't need to be precise), turn off the heat and remove the chicken legs and thighs from the pot.

    Elise Bauer
  3. Strain the broth

    Strain the broth through a fine-meshed strainer and reserve 4-5 cups. Add the salt to this both and taste. Add more salt to taste. Save the remaining broth for another recipe (it will freeze well).

    Elise Bauer
  4. Strip off usable meat from chicken

    Remove and discard the chicken skin from the chicken parts . Strip off all the usable meat from the chicken and shred it by hand. Set it aside. Discard the bones.

    Elise Bauer

The Stew

  1. Heat 2 Tbsp of the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the garlic cloves, ground coriander, salt, white pepper and stir to make a paste. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant, stirring often.

    Elise Bauer
    Elise Bauer

    Add half the cilantro and cook until it wilts.

  2. Add the broth

    (four cups makes a rather dry stew, 5 cups is a little looser) heat it to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes.

    Elise Bauer
  3. While the broth simmers, mix the vinegar, lemon juice and red onion together in a bowl

    Set aside.

  4. Stir in the chard leaves a little at a time,

    adding more only when the previous batch has wilted. Add the shredded chicken and cook everything for 8-10 minutes.

    Elise Bauer
    Elise Bauer
  5. While the stew is in its final simmer, heat the last Tbsp of butter in a small pan over medium-high heat. Wilt the remaining cilantro in the butter and cook for a minute or two.

    Elise Bauer

    To serve, add the cilantro and the onion mixture to the stew, mix well and add salt to taste.

    Elise Bauer

    Serve with bread, rice or potatoes.

Recipe adapted from and published here with permission of the author, Aida Mollenkamp of Aida Mollenkamp's Keys to the Kitchen: The Essential Reference for Becoming a More Accomplished, Adventurous Cook

Links:

Wikipedia on Coriander

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
312 Calories
17g Fat
18g Carbs
27g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6 to 8
Amount per serving
Calories 312
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 17g 21%
Saturated Fat 6g 30%
Cholesterol 87mg 29%
Sodium 678mg 29%
Total Carbohydrate 18g 6%
Dietary Fiber 6g 22%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 27g
Vitamin C 74mg 368%
Calcium 138mg 11%
Iron 5mg 27%
Potassium 1050mg 22%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate. In cases where multiple ingredient alternatives are given, the first listed is calculated for nutrition. Garnishes and optional ingredients are not included.