This was a childhood favourite of mine and always a treat when my mom made it, knowing it took a bit of effort. I find that it’s less daunting to make if I plan one day ahead and boil and shred the chicken the day before I want to serve it. This makes preparing your dinner the next day an absolute breeze.

Here’s what goes in:

1 whole chicken

1 onion, quartered

Salt and chicken seasoning to taste

A good pinch of herbs

1 green/red pepper, diced

1 punnet of sliced mushrooms

Olive oil for frying

1 cup of frozen peas

250ml cream/ a tin of mushroom soup/ a packet of mushroom soup

2 tablespoons of flour for thickening

How to do it :

Boil the chicken in a heavy pot (lid on), along with the onion, spices and herbs. You will need to add enough water to keep the chicken submerged. Keep this on a low boil until the chicken is properly cooked through. This will take about an hour and a half. Once done, set it aside so the chicken can cool completely. Keep the liquid in the pot as you’re going to use this later for the dish.

When the chicken has reached a temperature at which you can handle it by hand, remove the skin and using your fingers, pull all the good meat off the bones. Discard the bones and the skin. You can refrigerate the meat and the stock from the pot – separately – if you plan to make the dish the next day. If not, push on.

Fry the peppers and mushrooms with the olive oil in a pan or pot large enough to accommodate the whole dish. Then add the chicken to this, with a little additional seasoning and salt if you think it needs it. Sprinkle the flour over the chicken, coating it lightly to help with the thickening process. Then gradually add the stock that you reserved, allowing this all to simmer slowly. With some liquid now in the pan, you can add the peas so that they can just cook until tender. At this point, you’d give the Chicken a la King it’s final touch by adding cream or a tin of mushroom soup. I have even used a packet version and left out the mushrooms when that was all I had available in the pantry, and you can totally do the same and still achieve a delicious result!

Just leave it to simmer for a further ten minutes so that all the flavours infuse and then serve it with a lovely rice or couscous of your choice.