Chicken with chilli and chocolate recipe

Chilli flavoured chocolate has been tickling our taste buds for a while now but have you tried adding chocolate to a spicy savoury sauce? Actually it’s not so strange and is quite often used in Mexican cooking to make classic dishes such as mole and chilli con carne. Just a little dark chocolate, ideally with 70% cocoa solids, adds a great depth of flavour and richness to a spicy sauce. We’ve used chicken breasts in this recipe but chicken thighs can be used instead and are slightly cheaper, or if you have any leftover cooked chicken this sauce will bring it to life.

Ingredients

• 2tbsp olive oil
• 500g skinless chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into chunks
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1tsp chilli powder
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
• 500g passata
• 25g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into squares
• Rice, to serve
• Parsley, to garnish (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a pan, add the chicken and fry over a high heat for 3-4 mins until browned. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
2. Add the onion and red pepper to the pan and fry over a medium heat for 5 mins to soften. Add the garlic, chilli powder, cumin, cinnamon and passata and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
3. Return the chicken to the pan and bring to the boil, stirring. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins, stirring occasionally until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Add the chocolate and stir until melted. Taste and add a little extra chilli powder, if liked. Serve with rice and garnish with parsley, if using.