Curried Chicken Thighs

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This recipe for curried chicken thighs could be prepared in the slow cooker but I had the time and took the opportunity to use one of my favorite 5 quart dutch ovens – part of my vintage, hard anodized, commercial quality, Calphalon® cookware collection from the mid 80s.

It’s much like using cast iron cookware. I love the way it maintains an even heat over the entire surface to sauté onions and brown meat – especially chicken.

 I had the hour or so required to prepare the recipe on the stove top.   For this recipe, chicken does not really benefit from hours in a slow cooker.  Lamb or lamb stew meat, particularly mutton curry, would be perfect cooking in a crock pot for hours! 

 

Curried Chicken #recipeoftheday #recipe #chicken #curry #spicy #yummy

A photo posted by De (@lacuisiniere) on Jul 20, 2015 at 2:52pm PDT

It’s been ages since I wandered through the aisles at Rodmans® Discount Gourmet.

Don’t know about you but I love looking through the “pantry” shelves for each country to find a specialty condiment or unusual spice mix which will add variety to the menu. That is where I found a jar of vinegar based curry paste.

Quick Recipe For Curried Chicken Thighs…

• Remove the pieces of chicken from the package and pat dry with paper towels.  Separate the thighs according to approximate size.  You will be sautéeing the smaller pieces first.
• Slice the onions.
• Add the oil and butter to the dutch oven over medium low heat.  Once melted and bubbling, add the sliced onions and sauté until they are translucent and just beginning to brown along the edges.
• To the onions, add the garlic, the cumin, giner and chopped parsley.  Stir to blend well. 
• Remove from pan and set aside.
• In the remaining pan drippings, fry the chicken pieces, beginning with the smaller pieces.  Do not crowd the pieces.  Set aside as your brown them.  Brown the larger pieces of chicken last as they will stay in the bottom of the dutch oven once they are browned.
• Layer half of the onion mixture over the chicken pieces. 
• Top the onions with the remaining, smaller pieces of chicken.
• Layer the remaining onions over this layer of meat.  Spread evenly over all chicken pieces.
• In a bowl, mix the un-drained diced tomato pieces, the curry paste, ginger past and season with freshly cracked pepper to taste. Add about 12 ounces of rich chicken broth and combine well.
• Pour tomato/chicken broth mixture evenly over the chicken.

Cook covered, at a simmer, for about 30 minutes.  Uncover and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes or until the chicken pieces are tender.  Serve over Basmati rice or steamed potatoes.

Note:

When I first added the three tablespoons of curry paste, I was convinced I had gone a spice too far.  The vinegar and tomato based curry paste is extremely spicy and high in sodium (over 400mg.) so go easy when seasoning the chicken.

Somehow, much of the spice fire was absorbed by the meat and the resulting sauce was not too spicy – at least not anywhere near the level that once brought me to tears.

A lamb stew version is next on the to-do list.

You can thicken the sauce if you like but it reduced well during the second cooking phase.

Add a cool cucumber salad and a platter full of naan to soak up all the sauce!