Red Chicken Stew

The veggies and spices for this dish.
1 large onion, diced
4 large garlic cloves, smashed
3 large sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup raisins (I'm using craisins because I ran out of raisins)
1 dry lime/lemon, pierced, or 1 tsp. ground dry lime/lemon; you could also use 3 bay leaves if you can't find the dry limes/lemons, lemon grass would work too, whichever you choose, remember to take it out before serving the stew.
1 Tablespoon Curry powder
salt to taste.

1 whole chicken, thawed in cold water.

Cut into eight pieces.

Cover the chicken in water. Boil for about ten minutes. Drain the chicken, carefully, because the water is boiling hot. Wash the pot with soap and water, to get rid of the nasty gray scum on the insides of the pot. It would not be appetizing to have that scum floating in your stew.

Lay the partially cooked chicken on a plate until you've washed the pot.

Put a little oil, about 1/4 cup, in the bottom of the clean pot. Brown the partially cooked chicken with the diced onion. Throw in the smashed garlic cloves when the chicken is browned to your liking, just to release the aroma of the garlic. Then just cover the chicken with water.

Add about 2 cups of V-8 juice, 1 Tablespoon of curry powder and salt to taste.

Add your 1/2 cup of raisins, your chunks of peeled sweet potatoes and your pierced dry lime. Cover your pot and simmer it over medium heat until the sweet potatoes are soft. At least a half hour or a little longer.

Smash the sweet potatoes into the broth with the back of your spoon and simmer about 10 minutes longer. To serve, ladel the stew over the rice in the previous recipe.

*This meal is a fairly typical combination of sweet and savory flavors found in standard Iraqi cuisine.