My mum used to make this dish for our family regularly when I was growing up. Chicken baked in a mustard cream sauce, with flaked almonds to adorn it. It tastes delicious and could just as well serve as a dinner party dish or as a family favourite. I made some tweaks to the recipe to make it a gluten free chicken simla, with an added Sheffield twist in the form of Henderson’s relish, as a nod to my Yorkshire husband!

Gluten Free Chicken Simla

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 4 chicken breast, cut into large strips (1 breast should go to approx 3 strips)
  • 2 tbsp gluten free plain flour
  • A knob of butter
  • Half a pint of hot water
  • 2 tbsp mild French mustard
  • 2 tbsp Henderson’s relish or gluten free Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 gluten free chicken stock cube
  • 150ml single cream
  • Salt and pepper
  • A small handful of flaked almonds

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 180C.
  2. Toss the chicken strips in the flour, then fry in the butter in a frying pan over a high heat. You want to brown the chicken on the outside, but to leave it raw in the middle.
  3. Next, transfer your chicken pieces to an oven dish and set aside.
  4. To make the sauce, dissolve the stock cube in the hot water, then add the Henderson’s relish, mustard and salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
  5. Pour the sauce over the chicken and then cover the dish with tin foil.
  6. Bake the chicken in the over (covered) for 1 hour at 180C.
  7. Remove from the oven and take off the foil. Stir in the cream and then cook the dish uncovered for a further 10 minutes.
  8. At the same time, spread the flaked almonds out a baking tray and toast them in the oven for the 10 minutes it takes for the chicken to finish cooking.
  9. To serve, sprinkle the flaked almonds over the chicken and accompany the dish with basmati rice and green beans.