Chicken stew with potato and carrot

Tried making chicken stew today. Wanted to make English chicken stew but I searched online and there were so many different recipes so I mixed and matched the steps and ingredients and ended up with a 'char pa lang' English stew. ;) As long as it's different from the ginger oyster sauce chicken stew that I usually made cos that one reminds me too much of confinement food.

Ingredients (Preparation time: 1 hr, serving size: 3 adults and 1 toddler)
3 chicken thighs (remove fats and skin)
2 med carrots (cut into slices, about 0.5 cm thick)
2 potatoes (cut into 1 cm cubes)
Half a yellow/white onion (sliced) - can use less onion if you are not an onion fan
8 cloves of garlic (peeled)
2 cups of chicken stock (I added more cos I had a lot of frozen stock)
2 tablespoon of flour
Two 1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of oil
1 sprig of parsley (finely choppped) - can be omitted if don't like parsley

1. On a plate, combine the flour, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and the pepper. Dredge the chicken in the flour mixture, shaking off the excess. In a nonstick Dutch oven, heat the oil until hot by not smoking over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

2. Using the remaining oil from the chicken (add another tablespoon if the oil has disappeared), add the garlic, onions, fry until fragant. Then add carrots, potatoes, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables begin to brown, about 5 minutes.

3. Return the chicken to the pot and add the broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce to a simmer, and cover. cook, turning the chicken occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, about 20-30 minutes.

Verdict
RaeAnne loves the stew. I had lots of gravy so we poured over her rice. Guess she loves mushy, savoury rice more. Hubby didn't have anything bad to say this time and actually said it's nice. I thought the onions and parsley was overpowering (cos I'm not a fan of either) but he likes it this way. :)

Note:
i) The recipe said can add 1 cup of dry white wine and cook for 3 mins (after the vegetables have browned but before adding the chicken). But I didn't add wine cos cooking for RaeAnne.

ii) I added slightly less pepper and salt than the recipe called for cos afraid it'll be too hot or too salty for RaeAnne. Can use actual amounts stated if cooking for adults.

iii) I simmered the stew uncovered cos I had a lot of stock. Plus I was removing the scum from the chicken thigh bones which appeared as I started cooking.

iv) Best to use a real non stick pot. I use corningware pot cos my WMF stock pot was too big and my non stick saucepan is too small. Nearly spoilt the dish cos corningware is NOT non-stick and some parts was getting burnt after I took out the chicken and added the garlic/onion. I had to remedy that by adding more oil and adding stock before vegetables are properly browned. :P

Oh ya, RaeAnne said Rabbit yesterday and said onion today. She also made a good attempt to imitate Daddy saying Me, he, she and they. ;)

But the naughty gal poured the bowl of rice with ingredients and some soup at my mum's place when she got 'tired' of eating. Beat her hands but she has no reaction at all. My dad said I should beat her when she do it instead of shortly after. Little did he know that I'm counting to 10 to calm myself down. If not, I'm afraid I'll spank her even harder.

My younger bro (who is not married and has no kids) thinks that she has no reaction cos I didn't beat her hard enough. Well, first of all, he didn't witness the whole saga, I did beat her hard on her hands (not on her diapers cos that'll be cushioned). Secondly, a lot of toddlers this age are testing boundaries so I don't know whether it's worse to give her a reaction everytime she does something naughty or to ignore her antics so that she doesn't get a kick from doing it anymore.

Eg. she used to bite her nails all the time a few months ago and we'll keep shouting at her not to do it, pull her hands out, make a big huha. But after we gave up, she actually stopped doing it. Anyway, it's a fine balance that we need to find as parents. :P

Today, she bent my specs out of shape when I was on the bed in a drowsy mode after taking my cold medicine. Tried to bend it back and broke one of the handles. Sigh, got to go and replace my specs soon. Should have done lasik before conceiving no. 2. Then my problems would have been solved. :P