Country Captain Chicken

By VerneJ

From: Bon Appetit (May 1984)

Ingredients

• Curry Mixture
• 4 bay leaves, coarsely crumbled
• 2 tbsp cumin seed
• 2 tbsp coriander seed
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• 1 tsp ground tumeric
• 1/2 tsp whole allspice
• 1 3-to-3 1/2-lb chicken pieces (2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 half breasts)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 cup (or more) chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 2 med-size red bell peppers, cut into matchstick julienne
• 2 med tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 med onion, halved and very thinly sliced
• 3 med-size green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp chutney
• Freshly cooked white or brown rice
• Toasted slivered almonds
• Currants

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from bonappetit.com

Preparation

Step 1

1. For curry mixture: Grind all spices to powder in small hand or electric grinder or in mortar with pestle.

2. Trim excess skin and fat from chicken.

3. Preheat oven to 400°F. Pat chicken dry. Season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken in single layer, skin side down and brown lightly, about 5 minutes. Turn and brown other side. Transfer chicken to shallow baking dish using slotted spoon. Bake until just cooked through, 10-15 minutes. Bone breast pieces.

4. Pour off excess fat from skillet. Set over low heat. Stir in 1 tsp curry mixture (reserve remainder for another use). Add wine, scraping up browned bits. Boil until wine is reduced by half. Stir in red and green bell peppers, tomatoes and onion. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until peppers are tender, about 5 minutes. Adjust sauce consistency, if necessary, by boiling if too thin or adding 2 to 3 tablespoons more stock if too thick. Blend in half of green onion and 2 tablespoons chutney.

5. Mix chicken into sauce. Simmer until heated through.

6. Mound rice on platter. Top with chicken. Spoon sauce over. Garnish with remaining green onion. Sprinkle with nuts and currants. Serve.