Chicken with Indian Spices and Yogurt

For a self professed foodie, I sure don't put many recipes on my blog!  That picture at the header, I made that.  I actually created it from taste after I got it from a local specialty market in town.  I love love love to cook, I love to eat, and I married a chef!  :)


Here's the first of hopefully many recipes with pictures to appear on the blog.

Chicken with Indian Spices and Yogurt
(Adapted From Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything)

Sweet, saucy and warming. Wonderful over rice pilaf, white or brown basmati rice. For extra flavor, start with whole cumin, coriander, cardamom and cinnamon and toast and grind them yourself.

Ingredients:
¼ cup peanut, grapeseed, corn or other neutral oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4-6 chicken thighs or other parts, rinsed and patted dry
1 large or 2 medium onions, chopped
4 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon peeled and grated fresh ginger (or 1 teaspoon ground ginger)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste (I used ¼ tsp.)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups plain yogurt
Minced cilantro leaves for garnish


Directions:
Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large, deep skillet, Dutch oven, or casserole. When the oil is hot add chicken skin side down to oil, and brown it well, rotating and turning the pieces as necessary; the process will take 10-15 minutes. (You can skip this part if you like, as noted in the Braised Chicken Parts section; heat a T of oil and go directly to cooking the onions.)

When the chicken is nicely browned, remove it from the skillet and pour off all but a couple of tablespoons of oil. Turn heat to medium, and add the onion along with some salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until they soften, about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic, ginger and spices along with an additional 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Cook with the onions, stirring, until very aromatic, about 2 or 3 minutes. Stir in the yogurt, then add the chicken pieces back to the pan.

Cover and cook over medium-low heat so that the mixture doesn’t boil, turning the pieces every 5 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked through 10 to 20 minutes (longer if you skipped the browning step); It’s ok if the mixture curdles a bit. The chicken is done when an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 155-165 degrees F, 20 to 30 minutes.

Taste and adjust seasoning, garnish with cilantro and serve.

Bittman says: Boneless chicken breasts are an undeniably convenient weeknight diner choice, but bone-in chicken parts are just as simple to prepare and infinitely more favorful (and less expensive!). When you braise chicken parts in a seasoned liquid, you get a comforting meal with plenty of sauce for rice, noodles or bread – with very little effort, in less than an hour. Chicken with Yogurt and Indian Spices takes only 45 minutes to cook, yet tastes like it’s been braising for much longer. And if you’re really pressed for time, don’t bother to brown the chicken first; just skip Step 1 and proceed with the onions as described in step 2.

Char says:  If you find that your sauce has curdled, puree it to smoothness using a stand or immersion blender. I also ended up adding about ½ cup milk and cream to smooth the mixture out. 1-9-11 John and I really liked this, I think some coconut milk would be a good addition also.



Char