Fusing South Asia on $10 per day
I. Hate. Insomnia.
But as long as I’m up, I might as well have a go at a request I got today. I’m supposed to post a recipe. I shared with my father a couple bites of the chicken I made, and he was positively effusive about it. My good friend Nathan was a huge fan as well. Problem is, I don’t cook with recipes and I don’t measure stuff. If I’m baking bread, I absolutely have to measure everything exactly; I have no gut feeling for the chemistry of gluten and yeast and so forth. It’s like a really bad chemistry lab or something. But not chicken. Absolutely not chicken.
I’ve been requested to try to post the recipe, which I will try to relate while you keep in mind that I’m making up everything numerical as I go along.
So here it is:
2 Tbsp canola oil
4 - 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large ripe (red) serrano peppers, chopped
4 - 5 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breast
1 can chicken broth
1 can coconut milk
3/4 cup sun dried tomatoes
1 Tbsp fenugreek leaf
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp clove
- Sautee the garlic and hot peppers in the canola oil at the bottom of a large stock pot until softened.
- Add everything else.
- Cook over medium heat until the chicken is cooked through, about 90 minutes, stirring every 15 or so.
- Step 4 consists solely of a disclaimer that there is no useful instruction following Step 3.
It cooks itself, essentially. It’s also very cheap to make. It’s a one-pot meal that you fire and forget: a great bachelor’s food. What would I do differently next time? Well, I’d make sure my ginger hadn’t gone bad. I intended to add about a 1 in. piece of fresh, peeled ginger rhizome, finely chopped, with the garlic and peppers. And I meant to garnish the whole thing with cilantro. But I didn’t do either of those things, and it was palatable.
Fenugreek leaf, though. I don’t really know what to say about that. I bought it because I didn’t know what it tasted like, and after tasting it decided it was right for this dish. I have no idea how to duplicate this without the fenugreek leaf. Maybe ground fenugreek seed and thyme? Check the Persian section of your grocery store, if you’re lucky enough to have a Persian section in your grocery store, and buy some fenugreek leaf.
I wish there were some magical secret to the dish, but no, it really is that stupid. Philosophically, following this recipe to the letter would be like listening to a Miles Davis album so that you can learn to play every note exactly: it’s better to figure out the logic of jazz, or the kitchen, and just use up stuff you have around. That’s what I did, the only difference being that I’m no Miles Davis. The sun dried tomatoes would not have been there otherwise. There was no special trip to a store to make this.
Keep in mind that the the coconut milk will turn from white to deep walnut brown as you cook the chicken, and don’t burn the garlic. That’s it. If something doesn’t seem right, change it. And you’ll be there.
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