Chicken and Chickpea Casserole

Well,  this is another one I made up from thin air... and it was not too bad!!!  I really enjoyed it and it was exactly as I thought it would turn out.  Yay!!  I had to make this on the stove top in a heavy pan with a lid,  because my stoopid oven comes complete with a KILL SWITCH!!  So,  it keeps killing itself if I leave it on too long.  Que??  Yeah, my oven overheats.  Anywaaaay,  this would probably do quite well in a casserole dish after cooking on the stove top.

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts, cut into about 3 or 4 pieces (or about 700g or whatever cut you have)
• 2-3 tabs Plain Flour
• Failsafe oil (I'm using Rice Bran Oil these days)
• 1 Leek, quartered and finely sliced
• Garlic, crushed
• 1 tab Vegie Stock Concentrate
• 1 - 1.5 cup water
• 1 can Chickpeas, rinsed
• Pear chutney
• About 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 1 spring onion, finely diced

METHOD:

• Coat chicken in flour
• Stir spring onion into cream cheese and set aside
• Fry chicken pieces and set aside
• In a little oil,  cook leek and garlic until soft
• Add Vegie Stock and water
• Add Chickpeas and Chicken
• Add Pear Chutney and stir
• Place blobs of the Cream Cheese mixture on the top of the casserole, cover and allow to simmer while you cook some rice (at least 15 minutes)
• If you're putting this in the oven, maybe simmer covered for a while and then add the cream cheese and brown it
• Serve on white rice with some steamed green beans

Verdict:  Like I said,  I loved it and so did Mr frillypants.  Ms C ate it up (after she got over the disappointment of it not being 'Crispy Chicken' ) but Ms D doesn't like Pear Ketchup,  so next time I would serve hers a little 'dryer'.  Overall,  this went down a treat!!