Easy Casserole - Apricot Chicken

This easy casserole can be prepared on weekdays as it only take 15 minutes to prepare and you just leave the rest of the cooking to the oven.  It was taught by one of my old neighbour who had 6 children but she could still maintain her house spotless clean and feeding the children well.  What a super woman!  When you have a big family, you always have to utilise everything and have a good budget.  It's a challenging job to do indeed.  I have added more vegetables into the dish to add flavours and the fried onions work very well with the dish.

Apricot Chicken
(serve 4)

Ingredients:
5 chicken thigh cutlets (skin or skinless) or a mixed of chicken portions
1 x tin of 425 ml apricot nectar
1x packet salt-reduced French onion soup mix
5-6 pieces of tin apricot halves (optional)
1 onion, cubed
1/2 green capsicum, cubed
1 carrot, sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
cucumber, sliced
Asian fried onions

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180c.  Marinate the chicken with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in the casserole, pan fry the onion for a while then add the chicken and garlic.
3. Add in the rest of the vegetables, stir a few seconds, then pour in the apricot nectar and soup mix.  Mix well and let it simmer for a few minutes.
4. Add in the apricot halves and seasoned it with salt if you wish. 
5. Bake, covered for 50 minutes.  Serve it with rice, cucumber and fried onion.