Spicy Chicken Hearts

They have a lot of exciting things in the supermarket here that you don't see often in the UK. For example lambs lungs, pigs tongue, pigs trotters, calves sweetbreads (pancreas) and chicken hearts. I bought some chicken hearts although I had no idea what to do with them. This is what I came up with.

Serves 2 

300g of chicken hearts (that is a lot of hearts!)

1 onion

1 clove of garlic (grated or finely chopped)

10cl cream

Juice of half a lemon

1 tsp gravy granules (cheating I know but I often use when i want a sauce thickened for the flavour too... eg when I make stirfry). Use flour if you don't cheat on your gravy less than a tsp though.

Splash of water

1tsp cumin

1tsp paprika

Some cayenne pepper or fresh chilli - to your own taste

4 juniper berries (crushed)

125g rice

Chop the onion and fry on a low heat until lightly browned. Perhaps 15 mins.

Add the hearts, spices and the garlic and increase the heat slightly. Fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the cream, the lemon and the gravy granules. Stir until it boils, then add a bit of water to thin a little to consistancy of cream.

Simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Use this time to cook the rice too.

Serve

I found the hearts to have an interesting texture, not nasty, but not amazing either. The sauce was delicious though, and would go well with chopped chicken, pork or some kind of firm veg (aubergine, courgette and baby sweetcorn?)