This is definitely one of my favorite meals I have ever made.  It is pretty, too.  Turmeric is a beautiful spice.

Ella, in all of her photo styling wisdom, told me that I should take more over-the-top shots of my food.  I kind of like this picture, but I need to figure out how to maneuver my tripod that way because I have a hard time staying still when I am looking straight down.

Jim wanted Indian food and I suggested that I would make it for dinner last night.  I sent Taylor on a Google search for a good Indian dish and she went straight to Pioneer Woman (of course?.)  Taylor loves PW so this wasn’t actually a big surprise.  I was surprised, however, that she found so many Indian inspired dishes on there.

This dish stood out to me because the pictures looked mouth-watering and I had almost everything to make it.  The marinade for this chicken is almost like pico de gallo and I just couldn’t pinpoint how that would taste when cooked with the curry slurry.  The girls happened to both be away at dinner time so we decided to use the HOT curry powder to give it some real heat.

Although Trinidad is nowhere near India, the cuisine is heavily inspired by Indian cooking.  Apparently, under the influence of the British, Indian immigrants came over to the Caribbean as indentured servants in the 1800′s.  Over time, they adapted their family recipes based on the food that they could find in the Caribbean.  That explains why this Trinidadian dish tastes very much like something you would get at your favorite Indian restaurant.

There are many different types of curry powders out there.  It’s a bit confusing really as to which kind you want to use when.  Curry is not a spice by itself, it is a mixture of spices such as red pepper, fenugreek, cumin, turmeric and coriander.  This mixture can vary from region to region (probably depending on availability and individual/regional preferences.)  The curry powder that we buy mass-produced in the US is very different from something you would get in India or Thailand.  Trinidad has its own blends that you can buy.  I bought my curry powder at my local Indian grocery store (great place to buy inexpensive spices.)  This blend was a HOT Madras curry powder.  It was flavorful and pretty spicy, but not overpowering.  With all of that being said, there really isn’t anything wrong with the curry powder we can buy at our grocery stores here in the US, but for a dish like this if you can get your hands on Indian or even Trinidadian curry powder your dish will taste that much more authentic.

Although I wouldn’t call this a weeknight meal it isn’t super-fussy or over-complicated.  I had almost everything in my pantry and I didn’t have a long list of ingredients to buy (which is very often a determining factor for whether I will make something or not.)  Yet, the flavor was unlike anything that has ever come out of my kitchen.  It tasted like it came from an Indian (or Trinidadian) restaurant!

Of course, I also have to point out that this dish is pretty darn healthy for you – especially if you eat it over brown basmati rice like we did.  I pressure cooked some green beans in a little beef broth and that went perfectly with the curry.  Since you remove the skin and fat from the chicken there is very little fat except for the vegetable oil you add at the beginning.  Between the tomatoes and spices you get lots of good vitamins and antioxidants.  One more reason to add this wonderful dish to your menu.  Just watch your portion size:-)

This is the type of food you want to sneak at 10:30 at night (I didn’t mainly because I was asleep by then) because dinner was just that good. Awesome find, Taylor:-)  If you are looking for a dish that you can make at home that is pretty easy to prepare and tastes as authentic as something you could get at a restaurant, you should try this one soon.  Enjoy!

For some other recipes that use curry blends on BWL you can try these recipes, too!

Crockpot Thai Chicken Curry

Thai Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup

Thai Inspired Curried Chicken Salad

Source : The Pioneer Woman Cooks (with some very slight adaptations of my own)

Trinidadian Chicken Curry

 

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Ingredients

• 1 Whole Chicken cut-up – skin removed
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 1 tomato – quartered
• 1 onion – halved
• 1 handful cilantro
• 8 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Optional – juice of half a lemon, coconut milk, extra cilantro

Instructions

1. Sprinkle salt on chicken and add mustard. Toss to thoroughly coat the chicken.
2. In the bowl of your food processor chop the tomatoes, half the onion, garlic and cilantro
3. Pour the vegetable mixture over the chicken and let marinate for 2 hours
4. When the chicken has finished marinating make the slurry by combining the curry powder, turmeric and ¾ cups of water.
5. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Pour the slurry into the skillet and let cook for about 5-6 minutes. The slurry will turn a dark brown color and thicken. Stir constantly so the mixture does not burn. If you need to add a little more water you can, but you want to end up with a nice brown slurry that is quite thick, but not completely dried out.
6. Slice the other half of the onion and add to the slurry. Let it cook for several minutes over medium heat.
7. When your slurry is finished and onions are slightly cooked, add the chicken and turn the pieces to coat in the sauce. Spread out in the skillet so none of the chicken pieces are touching. Cook, slightly covered, turning the chicken every 5 minutes or so, adding more water (alternating with some coconut milk if you like) as necessary. You do not want the sauce to dry out. Your chicken will cook for about 25 minutes and when finished you will have a nice thick sauce. If you feel like your chicken isn’t cooking quickly enough you can turn the heat up a little bit. Just make sure it doesn’t burn and your sauce doesn’t dry out. You of course want the chicken to be completely cooked at the end and times may vary.
8. I added the lemon at the end and you will want to taste to see if you need to season with additional salt and pepper. Garnish with cilantro if desired.
9. We served this over brown Basmati rice with pressure cooked green beans.
10. Enjoy!

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