“A man is whatever room he’s in.” If the room smells like this Jamaican curry chicken, then he’s doing alright. If you’ve had Thai, Indian or Japanese curry before, then you know how delicious, but different curry can be from country to country so you may want to keep this recipe on tap. This healthy recipe avoids high-fat ingredients like coconut milk, a staple of Thai curry, and the gravy is a puree of fresh ingredients  unlike Japanese curry, which often comes in a cube that you add water to. If you haven’t had curry chicken before, this is your overture.

Medium

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 55 minutes

Total time: 70 minutes

Servings: 6

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Photo courtesy of Bonnie Wu.

Ingredients:

2 pounds chicken thighs

1 hot pepper such as Caribbean scotch bonnet, serrano or jalapeño

1 large white or yellow onion

1 bunch scallions

3 potatoes

½ cup cashews (optional)

2 cloves garlic

½ tablespoon ginger

1 tablespoon chopped, fresh thyme

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoon poultry seasoning

2 tablespoon Caribbean curry powder (or 1.5 tbsp any curry powder and .5 tbsp all spice)

¼ cup olive oil

1 tablespoon butter (optional)

Directions:

  1. Cut chicken in stew-size pieces. Season with poultry seasoning cut with a dash of all spice
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Photo courtesy of Bonnie Wu.

2. Roughly chop hot pepper, onion, scallions, garlic, ginger, and thyme. Add to blender/food processer with black pepper. Blend to puree.

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Photo courtesy of Bonnie Wu.

3. Heat oil in large stock pot over medium/medium-high heat. Brown curry powder 5 min.

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Photo courtesy of Bonnie Wu.

4. Add one tablespoon of blended pepper and onion purée and brown chicken 5-7 minutes. Add extra oil if necessary to keep chicken from sticking.

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Photo courtesy of Bonnie Wu.

5. Add remaining purée and simmer 20 minutes.

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Photo courtesy of Bonnie Wu.

6. Cube potatoes the same size as chicken. Add and simmer 25 minutes.

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Photo courtesy of Bonnie Wu.

7. Toast cashews in butter over medium-high heat for 5-10 min or until golden brown (optional). Garnish curry chicken with cashews and sliced scallion and serve over Jamaican rice and peas.

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Photo courtesy of Bonnie Wu.

Recipe adapted from http://keithlorren.com/.

Everything curry:

Easy Thai Green Curry

Easy Indian Curry

Curry Cauliflower Soup