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.
“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.
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.
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.
Chopping onions, like you do.
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.
Trimmed the skins from my apple slices with my paring knife, then chopped up those slices.
Finished all the mise. Let’s get cooking.
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.
Got a bit of color on my onions & garlic, and added in the apples.
After it all cooks down a bit more, I added the seasonings.
In go the tomatoes, coconut milk, & tahini.
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.
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+
