Indian never goes well for Simply Delicious. 11-16: Indian Fried Fish was a bust, and 12-22: Nasi Goreng was less than exciting. This recipe, 6-32: Savory Buffet Chicken doesn’t openly identify itself as Indian-inspired, but it’s pretty similar to another clandestinely-influenced recipe, 6-8: Curried Chicken.
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“Oriental” is a term you don’t really hear any more (as I mentioned in 7-11: Oriental Pork Stir-Fry), and the language seems a bit flowery for the 1980s. However, this project is not about that stuff–it’s about the food. Let’s press on.
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This recipe suggest you use grated coconut or sesame seeds to make a liquid/paste for the recipe. I’m assuming that coconut milk and/or tahini were more difficult to come by in the 1980s, but they’re pretty standard fare in 2016. Use either or both, and skip the grated coconut/sesame seed process.
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Ingredients. I’m cheating and using frozen pieces of chicken instead of a whole chicken. I happen to have breasts and thighs, so I’m like halfway there.
Decided to use a mix of both tahini and coconut milk, since I had both on hand. I have no idea what kind of apple that is, it came in the CSA box and I threw the packing list away already.
Curry powder is missing from the picture, but it made it into the dish.
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Chopping onions, like you do.
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You guys, I finally get to use my apple-shaped apple cutter that I bought on a whim from IKEA years ago and rarely get to justify keeping!
Not in the picture: my other non-apple-shaped apple cutter. Justifying having two rarely-used apple cutters is a lot harder.
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Trimmed the skins from my apple slices with my paring knife, then chopped up those slices.
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Finished all the mise. Let’s get cooking.
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Used my cast-iron Dutch oven for this one, even though I’ve read that cast-iron and tomatoes aren’t usually good friends. It’s up to you what you want to use.
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Got a bit of color on my onions & garlic, and added in the apples.
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After it all cooks down a bit more, I added the seasonings.
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In go the tomatoes, coconut milk, & tahini.
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Defrosted the chicken pieces and cubed them. I figured since this was already so close to a typical curry, I’d just take it that final step. Now it makes a nice curry to put over rice, rather than big awkward pieces with extra sauce/stuff.
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Here’s a small bowl of the final product. Wasn’t terrible (especially with my tweaks), and it makes a pretty good curry over rice dish.
Grade: B+