island style curry

CURRY!! It's so good. This one is super flavorful, with tender bits of chicken thighs.  For this curry,  it's important to use really flavorful veggies. I got mine at a local farmers market. The tomatoes were almost purple inside and smelled like heaven. The peppers smelled like peppers should smell. Half of the flavor comes from marinating the chicken in the veggie mix, the other half from the curry paste.

Use a curry powder and seasonings that you like the flavor of. It doesn't have to be expensive, just good. That's the beauty of this dish.

For the marinade: 

1 green bell pepper, diced

2 medium ripe tomatoes, or one large one, diced

4 or 5 spring onions, chopped (keep some aside for garnish)

1 scotch bonnet pepper, diced (optional) 

and/or a big squirt of Sriracha

2 or 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs

juice and zest of 1 lemon (or lime)

salt

Wash your chicken in cold water. Cut off any fat, optionally. Slice or dice, however you like your chicken. Season liberally with salt and lemon or lime juice and zest. Mix in veggies. Cover and let sit at least an hour, up to a day or so, in the refrigerator.

For the curry:

2 tablespoons madras curry powder 

2 tablespoons Goya Adobo all-purpose seasoning (careful with this stuff, its salty!)
2 tablespoons Turmeric 

1 tablespoon allspice

1 cup water

2 tablespoons oil

Mix spices and water together to form a wet soup. Let it sit for 10 minutes or more while you prepare other things, or browse facebook or etc.

Heat a dutch oven to screaming hot. Add oil. When oil is hot, add in curry soup. Careful, it may splash and its very hot! Let cook about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. You want most of the liquid to evaporate and the curry to become a paste, like mashed potatoes. 

When paste is ready, add in marinated chicken. Toss everything together to combine, so the yummy oily curry gets all over the chicken and there aren't any globs of curry paste left. 

Add in about 1/2-1 cup of water, if needed, to form as much sauce as you'd like. 

Let cook about 15 or 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender and cooked through.

Serve with sticky rice, garlic bread or my honey + cornmeal muffins.

Keeps well for a week, tastes better every day.

Things to try:

Stir in a can of coconut milk in the last few minutes of cook time. 

If curry is too bland, add another tomato and a squirt of sriracha.

If curry is too salty, add in more water or coconut milk. 

Honey + Cornmeal muffins

Muffins are easy to make. There are just two really important things to remember: Don't over-mix the batter. And make sure your oven is at the right temperature. 

Baking powder makes things lovely and puffy in two ways. First, when it hits liquid, the powder causes a sort of Alkaseltzer reaction. Youll notice your batter becomes thick with big airholes in it as it is stirred. Secondly, baking powder reacts with the heat of your oven. To maximize the ultimate puffyness of your muffins, be sure you pop them in the oven as soon as you've got them in the pan. So be sure to prepare your pan before you mix the ingredients.

Baking at a high temperature helps the muffins get nice and tall in the oven, as soon as you put them in, because the baking powder reacts with the heat and makes things go UP. You'll also get that pretty dome top we love.

When you lower the heat, the muffin finishes cooking in the middle, but the lower heat keeps the outside from getting too tough.

This method works with most quick-breads, including biscuits, and helps ensure you get the best rise and still remain nice and soft. 

And always use real butter, so I guess that's three. 

Based on the recipe from KitchMe.

Makes 1 dozen muffins (or about 2 dozen minis)

1 cup cornmeal (i used white cornmeal. you can use yellow too.)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1⁄2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

1 cup whole milk

2 large egg

1⁄2 stick butter, melted

1⁄4 cup honey

3 or 4 TB honey, melted in the microwave about 10 seconds, until liquid-y. 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin, spray with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. 

In another bowl, whisk together the whole milk, eggs, butter, and honey. 

Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed. (Gently fold the batter together with a spatula, just until you don't see big dry spots)

Fill each muffin cup most of the way to the top.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400 F, then lower the heat to 375 F for another 5 minutes.

Optional but highly recommended: Remove pan from oven, gently brush tops of muffins with melted honey, bake again about 2 or 3 more minutes. Tops should be shiny and slightly sticky, even when cooled.