Jamaican Chicken Curry
Degree of Difficulty: Intermediate (if you include all components…the Jamaican curry powder, the rice and peas, and adobo seasoning)
Prep Time: 15 min
Total Cook Time: about 90 min
As part of the big move from SF to Boston during the summer of ’08, the wife and I drove cross-country over the span of about 10 days, literally eating our way across the country. One of the best and most surprising meals that we had along the way was in Nashville where we randomly stopped for lunch at a farmer’s market on a hot Sunday afternoon and were treated to some of the best Jamaican food that I’ve ever had. Jerk chicken, chicken curry, rice and peas, fried plantains…we had quite the feast…and not that I have anything against BBQ, but having something ethnic after spending a few nights in BBQ country was much needed.
Ever since that meal, I’ve been wanting to try to make something similar at home. Then one day while killing time at work, I came across some interesting recipes in the Boston Globe for quick and easy Jamaican food. My Jamaican chicken curry and rice and peas recipes are adapted from what I saw in the globe.
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken – cut into 8 pieces and remove the skin
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon – save the lemon halves after extracting the juice
2 garlic cloves – minced very finely
2 tsp dried thyme
6 tbsp Jamaican curry powder
3 tbsp olive oil
2-3 cups chicken stock – low-sodium if using store bought
1 large onion – chopped roughly
1 large russet potato – peeled and chopped roughly (appx 1/2 inch pieces)
1 large sweet potato – peeled and chopped roughly (appx 1/2 inch pieces)
Salt and pepper, to taste
You’ll want to complete these following steps the night before you cook the chicken. In a large bowl, toss the chicken pieces and vinegar together. Add enough cold water to cover the chicken. Add the lemon juice and lemon halves, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours. After the 2 hours, place just the chicken pieces (and not the water-vinegar-lemon solution) into another bowl. Don’t rinse the chicken. Add the garlic, thyme, and 4 tbsp of the curry powder to the chicken. Cover and refrigerate until the next day. Here’s what the chicken looks like after an overnight marination:
Heat a dutch oven (or large pot) over medium heat, then add the olive oil. Add the onion and remaining 2 tbsp curry powder. Cook for 10 minutes or so until the onion is translucent, but not browned (although the curry powder will make the onion look brown, I’m talking about avoiding any browning as a result of caramelization), stirring frequently. Make sure that the curry powder doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. After 10 minutes, you should have something that looks like this:
Push the onions to the sides of the pan as much as possible, then add the chicken and any of the marinade left in the bowl to the onion-curry powder mix with. Try not to stack the chicken pieces on top of each other. Cook for 5-10 minutes, turning occasionally, until the chicken is browned. Add the chicken stock so that it just barely covers the chicken. You’ll need 2-3 cups of stock for this. Turn the heat up to high, bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pan, and simmer for 45 minutes. Here’s what it all looks like just before covering and turning the heat down:
After 45 min, add all of the potatoes and stir well. Turn the heat up to medium-high and let the mixture just come to a boil, then cover, and turn the heat back down to let the mixture simmer for another 15 min, or until the potatoes are tender. With a fork or the back of a spoon, mash some of the potatoes. This will help to thicken the dish. At this point, taste the dish and add salt and pepper to taste. Feel free to add hot sauce, to taste, as well. If the stew is still a bit runny, turn the heat up to medium-high and let it reduce, uncovered, until it achieves the desired thickness.
This dish goes perfectly with rice and peas, served side-by-side in a bowl. The rice and peas can be made during the 45 min period that the chicken is cooking. Note that ‘peas’ in this case actually means pigeon peas, which aren’t actually peas, they are beans. The finished dish:
