A Lovely Rainy Day On The Outer Banks.

It's been pouring down rain all gray day long.
I love rainy days.

And what better to do on such a day than to cook.

My good friend Martie had recently emailed me a recipe and you know how much I love trying out something new. So lets proceed on to
Fragrant Curried Chicken with Creamy Yogurt.

Here's my mise en place for the curried chicken.
From top left and continuing semi-clockwise at times, we have diced tomatoes, olive oil, plain yogurt, pepper, salt, cinnamon, curry, cumin, raisins, ginger root, garlic, jalapeno, and onion.
Oh, and I almost forgot the $0.39/pound chicken quarters.



Here's the skinned thigh meat taken off the bone.

And here's the drumstick meat,
pulled off the bone.

I saved all the bones and chicken parts.

I put all the chicken parts in a big pot, added water, salt and pepper, celery, carrots, onions with their skins, and some bay leaves.

And I just left it to simmer the
rest of the day, covered.

Rosie will make chicken consomme tomorrow.

Toss the 1-inch cubes of chicken with
1/4 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper.

Next, coarse chop the garlic, onions,
ginger, and jalapenoes.

Pulse the garlic, onions, ginger, and jalapeno in a processor, then add 1/2 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, coriander, and cumin. Pulse again, adding a bit of water to make a loose paste.

Here's the finished spicy paste.

Here's the spicy paste mixture, some sliced onions, and a can of diced tomatoes.

Heat the pan, add some olive oil, and throw in the onion slices. Cook until slightly browned.












Add in the paste mixture, stirring and scraping up browned bits from the bottom of the pan.









You want nice fragrant spices so watch closely so they don't burn.













Next, add in the chicken.













And the diced tomatoes and some water to have about 1/2 inch water in the pan. I just filled the tomato can up with water, swished a bit, and poured that in.

Simmer, cover, and cook for 25-30 minutes.








Uncover and cook a few more minutes until sauce is thick and intensely flavored. Right before serving, add in the raisins, and cook just long enough to warm them through.

Here is the finished dish, served on a bed of Basmati rice and topped with a dollop of yogurt.

Now about the rice. I had asked Mr. Hawthorne to come in and do the rice, since I was doing about 10 other things at the same time and thought he could put some rice in a pan with water, turn the heat on and go back watching TV. Which is what he did. But when I went to plate the dishes, I saw he'd only made enough rice for 1 serving, and there were three of us.
"Why," I asked, "didn't you fix enough rice for everybody?"
"Well," he replied, "we always have leftover rice."
"Yes," I said, "we always do. And it always gets eaten. And we always have enough for everyone to eat."
Since when is leftover rice a bad thing?

Youngest Hawthorne really liked this dish. When he asked for seconds and I sadly told him there was no more rice, he declined.
So now, I'm fixing 20 minute white rice instead of 45 minute Basmati rice
so YH can have seconds.


I enjoyed this dish. I liked the contrasts: the complexity of the spices, the sweetness of the raisins, and the complementing coolness of the yogurt.

Mr. Hawthorne: "So is this Indian or something? Must be, 'cause it looks like ass and tastes good, but I wouldn't order it in a restaurant."

Ahhh, such high praise.