(no subject)

[nny]

Ingredients

(if you can afford it, insert organic before the applicable ingredients.)
chicken breast or Quorn/tofu pieces, as your sensibilities dictate - went with the vegemagarian, personally
cumin
chili powder
cinnamon
darkest of dark chocolates
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
onion
green pepper
sunflower oil

Instructions

Heat the sunflower oil in a shallow (frying, probably) pan. A goodly amount thereof, enough to be sloshing rather than just making the bottom of the pan shiny. Reeeeeally helps to have a gas hob here, it has to be said, because it took frickin' ages for mine to heat. Once it's sizzly, add the onion, green pepper and tofu, at time intervals judged for best cookability. Use a hob that is smaller than the pan you're using - this'll be important later. Cook until bendy/floppy/goldenbrown, applying the appropriate adjective to the appropriate foodstuff.

While that's cooking, put two teaspoons of cumin, two teaspoons of chili and one teaspoon of cinnamon into an appropriate receptacle (have just added two teaspoons of paprika and it tastes gorgeous, for the record). I chose an eggcup, but a shotglass would also work. So would other sensible things that people have in their kitchens; go with what you've got, is what I say.

Once the cooking ingredients have done their thing, move them to the edges of the pan and pour the spices into the middle. Swoosh the pan around so that they are oil coated, and stir. Watch them get darker! Watch them burn a little onto the bottom of the pan! It's cool, they're supposed to do that. Once they're sticking a little, add some dark chocolate. Again, make sure there's oil involved. I used around six/seven squares of the dark chocolate. Stir it around with the spices.

When the chocolate is all melted, stir in the chopped tomatoes, and bring the rest of the ingredients back into the center of the pan where the party's at. Use a wooden spoon or other stirring device to scratch the spicy bits off the bottom of the pan because they should be forced to mingle, it's good for the social development.

Allow to simmer for however long it takes to make whatever you're gonna have with it. We went for quinoa with a generous dolloping of olive oil; if we'd had lime we would have added that to the quinoa, because the dish is pretty rich and it would have cut it nicely IN THEORY. We did not try this, so I cannot assess the validity of our attempts to be culinary geeeeeeeenii.

Eat. Enjoy. Moan faintly afterwards and doubt your ability to ever move again.

Hom nom nom.